Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 093-0973
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Public Act 093-0973


 

Public Act 0973 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY



 


 
Public Act 093-0973
 
HB2268 Enrolled LRB093 06262 JLS 10988 b

    AN ACT to create the Health Care Justice Act.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Health
Care Justice Act.
 
    Section 5. Legislative findings. The General Assembly
recognizes that the U.S. census reported that on any given day
an estimated 1,800,000 Illinoisans are without health
insurance, and according to a March 2003 Robert Wood Johnson
study, nearly 30% of the non-elderly Illinois population
(3,122,000) during all or a large part of 2001 or 2002 were
uninsured; a growing number of Illinoisans are under-insured,
the consumer's share of the cost of health insurance is
growing, coverage in benefit packages is decreasing, and record
numbers of consumer complaints are lodged against managed care
companies regarding access to necessary health care services.
The General Assembly believes that the State must work to
assure access to quality health care for all residents of
Illinois, and at the same time, the State must contain health
care costs while maintaining and improving the quality of
health care.
 
    Section 10. Policy. It is a policy goal of the State of
Illinois to insure that all residents have access to quality
health care at costs that are affordable.
 
    Section 15. Health care access plan. On or before July 1,
2007, the State of Illinois is strongly encouraged to implement
a health care access plan that does the following:
        (1) provides access to a full range of preventive,
    acute, and long-term health care services;
        (2) maintains and improves the quality of health care
    services offered to Illinois residents;
        (3) provides portability of coverage, regardless of
    employment status;
        (4) provides core benefits for all Illinois residents;
        (5) encourages regional and local consumer
    participation;
        (6) contains cost-containment measures;
        (7) provides a mechanism for reviewing and
    implementing multiple approaches to preventive medicine
    based on new technologies; and
        (8) promotes affordable coverage options for the small
    business market.
 
    Section 20. Adequate Health Care Task Force. There is
created an Adequate Health Care Task Force. The Task Force
shall consist of 29 voting members appointed as follows: 5
shall be appointed by the Governor; 6 shall be appointed by the
President of the Senate, 6 shall be appointed by the Minority
Leader of the Senate, 6 shall be appointed by the Speaker of
the House of Representatives, and 6 shall be appointed by the
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. The Task Force
shall have a chairman and a vice-chairman who shall be elected
by the voting members at the first meeting of the Task Force.
The Director of Public Health or his or her designee, the
Director of Aging or his or her designee, the Director of
Public Aid or his or her designee, the Director of Insurance or
his or her designee, and the Secretary of Human Services or his
or her designee shall represent their respective departments
and shall be invited to attend Task Force meetings, but shall
not be members of the Task Force. The members of the Task Force
shall be appointed within 30 days after the effective date of
this Act. The departments of State government represented on
the Task Force shall work cooperatively to provide
administrative support for the Task Force; the Department of
Public Health shall be the primary agency in providing that
administrative support.
 
    Section 25. Public hearings.
    (a) The Task Force shall seek public input on the
development of the health care access plan by holding a public
hearing in each Illinois congressional district starting no
later than January 1, 2005 and ending on November 30, 2005.
Each State Representative and State Senator located in each
such congressional district shall be invited to participate in
the hearing in that district and help to gather input from
interested parties. A web site for the Task Force shall be
developed and linked to the Governor's home page for input to
be provided and to keep the public informed. The Task Force's
web site shall be specifically highlighted and have independent
pages reporting all activities and linkages for people to
access. Minutes from all of the Task Force's meetings shall be
available on the web site, and a hard copy of this information
shall also be made available for those persons without access
to the Task Force's web site. The Task Force may also consult
with health care providers, health care consumers, and other
appropriate individuals and organizations to assist in the
development of the health care access plan.
    (b) Not later than September 1, 2004, the Illinois
Department of Public Health, subject to appropriation or the
availability of other funds for such purposes and using a
public request for proposals process, shall contract with an
independent research entity experienced in assessing health
care reforms, health care financing, and health care delivery
models. Upon the request of at least one-fourth of the Task
Force members, the research entity shall be available to the
Task Force for the purpose of assessing financial costs and the
different health care models being discussed. All inquiries
made by Task Force members to the independent research entity
shall be made available on the Task Force's web site.
 
    Section 30. Final report. No later than March 15, 2006, the
Task Force shall submit its final report on the health care
access plan to the General Assembly and the Governor. The final
report may recommend a combination of more than one type of
plan and alternative methods of funding the plan. The final
report by the Task Force shall make recommendations for a
health care access plan or plans that would provide access to a
full range of preventive, acute, and long-term health care
services to residents of the State of Illinois by July 1, 2007,
including:
        (1) an integrated system or systems of health care
    delivery;
        (2) incentives to be used to contain costs;
        (3) core benefits that would be provided under each
    type of plan;
        (4) reimbursement mechanisms for health care
    providers;
        (5) administrative efficiencies;
        (6) mechanisms for generating spending priorities
    based on multidisciplinary standards of care established
    by verifiable replicated research studies demonstrating
    quality and cost effectiveness of interventions,
    providers, and facilities;
        (7) methods for reducing the cost of prescription drugs
    both as part of, and as separate from, the health care
    access plan;
        (8) appropriate reallocation of existing health care
    resources;
        (9) equitable financing of each proposal; and
        (10) recommendations concerning the delivery of
    long-term care services, including:
            (A) those currently covered under Title XIX of the
        Social Security Act;
            (B) recommendations on potential cost sharing
        arrangements for long-term care services and the
        phasing in of such arrangements over time;
            (C) consideration of the potential for utilizing
        informal care-giving by friends and family members;
            (D) recommendations on cost-containment strategies
        for long-term care services;
            (E) the possibility of using independent financing
        for the provision of long-term care services; and
            (F) the projected cost to the State of Illinois
        over the next 20 years if no changes were made in the
        present system of delivering and paying for long-term
        care services.
 
    Section 35. Further legislative action. No later than
December 31, 2006, the General Assembly is strongly encouraged
to vote on legislation that either enacts the Task Force's
recommendation or provides for another health care access plan
that meets the criteria set forth in Section 15.
 
    Section 99. This Act takes effect July 1, 2004.

Effective Date: 8/20/2004