Highlights from 2016
2016 resulted in a banner year in the (nearly) thirty-year history of the Council.
A few highlights of our work made possible because of your support:
- A record number of clients served: 1,823
- A record number of cases handled: 2,860
- Significant expansion of the Council’s medical-legal partnerships (MLP): We opened three new MLPs across the region, including a major expansion of the Council’s children’s program at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
- Over 1,300 children with disabilities in Illinois are receiving home care when they would have otherwise been forced into an institutionalized hospital setting.
- More than $18,000,000,000 (yes, billion!) in funding was made to life-saving safety net healthcare providers in Illinois.
- Our HIV program staff successfully negotiated with the Illinois Department of Public Health to prevent the termination of life-saving insurance premium assistance to HIV-positive individuals.
- We greatly expanded services to people at risk for HIV seeking access to PrEP, a medication regimen that is highly effective in reducing infection rates.
- Nationally, 70% of disability benefit claims are denied, while our homeless program has a 90% client success rate.
You helped make these accomplishments happen, but there is so much more to do in 2017. This work will continue at full force and we anticipate over 2,000 clients will receive direct legal help in 2017. With the coming cuts to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, demand will only increase.
We are going to fight cuts in funding for healthcare access for our communities and federal actions that threaten the civil rights of those we serve. And, we are expanding—we will be serving patients at all five of Howard Brown Health’s clinics and we are looking to expand our provision of legal services for children to new medical sites.
Our pledge is to continue to use the power of the law to secure health, dignity, and stability for children, adults and families challenged by illness and disability. Thanks for standing with us.