Executive Summary

Established in 1987, early in this country's AIDS crisis, by impacted community members, Legal Council fights barriers to health equity for people experiencing severe or stigmatizing health issues. Since that time, we have been at the forefront of expanding access to and defending against discrimination in every significant health coverage program in Illinois. Our advocacy, both directly through our individual representation and indirectly through our systemic advocacy, has protected healthcare coverage and access for millions of Illinoisans. We collaborate with safety-net health providers in medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) to provide free, civil legal services to low-income individuals to address legal barriers to health equity. These partnerships embed us in communities throughout Chicagoland, and we train and support healthcare providers to identify, troubleshoot, and refer non-medical issues impacting patient health. From the issues raised in our individual cases, we work with communities to identify opportunities for systemic change. We collaborate with community organizations and members in litigation, policy, and legislative advocacy and provide technical legal assistance to share our power. Through collaborations, we seek to make systems change that dismantle the structures that create health inequity in our communities.

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