Full Text of HB0453 94th General Assembly
HB0453 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006 HB0453
Introduced 1/26/2005, by Rep. Kevin Joyce SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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320 ILCS 25/4 |
from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 404 |
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Amends the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief and
Pharmaceutical Assistance Act. Creates a program of hearing aid assistance
to the aged and disabled. Provides that, to offset the cost of the hearing aids, a person entitled to claim a grant under certain provisions of the Act is entitled to receive a payment of up to $100 each calendar year in which he or she purchases a hearing aid for his or her personal use.
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A BILL FOR
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HB0453 |
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LRB094 05929 BDD 35983 b |
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| AN ACT concerning aging.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons | 5 |
| Property Tax Relief and
Pharmaceutical Assistance Act is | 6 |
| amended by changing Section 4 as follows:
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| (320 ILCS 25/4) (from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 404)
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| Sec. 4. Amount of Grant.
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| (a) In general. Any individual 65 years or older or any | 10 |
| individual who will
become 65 years old during the calendar | 11 |
| year in which a claim is filed, and any
surviving spouse of | 12 |
| such a claimant, who at the time of death received or was
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| entitled to receive a grant pursuant to this Section, which | 14 |
| surviving spouse
will become 65 years of age within the 24 | 15 |
| months immediately following the
death of such claimant and | 16 |
| which surviving spouse but for his or her age is
otherwise | 17 |
| qualified to receive a grant pursuant to this Section, and any
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| disabled person whose annual household income is less than | 19 |
| $14,000 for grant
years before the 1998 grant year, less than | 20 |
| $16,000 for the 1998 and 1999
grant years, and less than (i) | 21 |
| $21,218 for a household containing one person,
(ii) $28,480 for | 22 |
| a household containing 2 persons, or (iii) $35,740 for a
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| household containing 3 or more persons for the 2000 grant year | 24 |
| and thereafter
and whose household is liable for payment of | 25 |
| property taxes accrued or has
paid rent constituting property | 26 |
| taxes accrued and is domiciled in this State
at the time he or | 27 |
| she files his or her claim is entitled to claim a
grant under | 28 |
| this Act.
With respect to claims filed by individuals who will | 29 |
| become 65 years old
during the calendar year in which a claim | 30 |
| is filed, the amount of any grant
to which that household is | 31 |
| entitled shall be an amount equal to 1/12 of the
amount to | 32 |
| which the claimant would otherwise be entitled as provided in
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HB0453 |
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LRB094 05929 BDD 35983 b |
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| this Section, multiplied by the number of months in which the | 2 |
| claimant was
65 in the calendar year in which the claim is | 3 |
| filed.
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| (b) Limitation. Except as otherwise provided in | 5 |
| subsections (a) and (f)
of this Section, the maximum amount of | 6 |
| grant which a claimant is
entitled to claim is the amount by | 7 |
| which the property taxes accrued which
were paid or payable | 8 |
| during the last preceding tax year or rent
constituting | 9 |
| property taxes accrued upon the claimant's residence for the
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| last preceding taxable year exceeds 3 1/2% of the claimant's | 11 |
| household
income for that year but in no event is the grant to | 12 |
| exceed (i) $700 less
4.5% of household income for that year for | 13 |
| those with a household income of
$14,000 or less or (ii) $70 if | 14 |
| household income for that year is more than
$14,000.
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| (c) Public aid recipients. If household income in one or | 16 |
| more
months during a year includes cash assistance in excess of | 17 |
| $55 per month
from the Department of Public Aid or the | 18 |
| Department of Human Services (acting
as successor to the | 19 |
| Department of Public Aid under the Department of Human
Services | 20 |
| Act) which was determined under regulations of
that Department | 21 |
| on a measure of need that included an allowance for actual
rent | 22 |
| or property taxes paid by the recipient of that assistance, the | 23 |
| amount
of grant to which that household is entitled, except as | 24 |
| otherwise provided in
subsection (a), shall be the product of | 25 |
| (1) the maximum amount computed as
specified in subsection (b) | 26 |
| of this Section and (2) the ratio of the number of
months in | 27 |
| which household income did not include such cash assistance | 28 |
| over $55
to the number twelve. If household income did not | 29 |
| include such cash assistance
over $55 for any months during the | 30 |
| year, the amount of the grant to which the
household is | 31 |
| entitled shall be the maximum amount computed as specified in
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| subsection (b) of this Section. For purposes of this paragraph | 33 |
| (c), "cash
assistance" does not include any amount received | 34 |
| under the federal Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) program.
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| (d) Joint ownership. If title to the residence is held | 36 |
| jointly by
the claimant with a person who is not a member of |
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| his or her household,
the amount of property taxes accrued used | 2 |
| in computing the amount of grant
to which he or she is entitled | 3 |
| shall be the same percentage of property
taxes accrued as is | 4 |
| the percentage of ownership held by the claimant in the
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| residence.
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| (e) More than one residence. If a claimant has occupied | 7 |
| more than
one residence in the taxable year, he or she may | 8 |
| claim only one residence
for any part of a month. In the case | 9 |
| of property taxes accrued, he or she
shall prorate 1/12 of the | 10 |
| total property taxes accrued on
his or her residence to each | 11 |
| month that he or she owned and occupied
that residence; and, in | 12 |
| the case of rent constituting property taxes accrued,
shall | 13 |
| prorate each month's rent payments to the residence
actually | 14 |
| occupied during that month.
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| (f) There is hereby established a program of pharmaceutical | 16 |
| assistance
to the aged and disabled which shall be administered | 17 |
| by the Department in
accordance with this Act, to consist of | 18 |
| payments to authorized pharmacies, on
behalf of beneficiaries | 19 |
| of the program, for the reasonable costs of covered
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| prescription drugs. Each beneficiary who pays $5 for an | 21 |
| identification card
shall pay no additional prescription | 22 |
| costs. Each beneficiary who pays $25 for
an identification card | 23 |
| shall pay $3 per prescription. In addition, after a
beneficiary | 24 |
| receives $2,000 in benefits during a State fiscal year, that
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| beneficiary shall also be charged 20% of the cost of each | 26 |
| prescription for
which payments are made by the program during | 27 |
| the remainder of the fiscal
year. To become a beneficiary under | 28 |
| this program a person must: (1)
be (i) 65 years of age or | 29 |
| older, or (ii) the surviving spouse of such
a claimant, who at | 30 |
| the time of death received or was entitled to receive
benefits | 31 |
| pursuant to this subsection, which surviving spouse will become | 32 |
| 65
years of age within the 24 months immediately following the | 33 |
| death of such
claimant and which surviving spouse but for his | 34 |
| or her age is otherwise
qualified to receive benefits pursuant | 35 |
| to this subsection, or (iii) disabled,
and (2) be domiciled in | 36 |
| this State at the time he or she files
his or her claim, and (3) |
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| have a maximum household income of less
than $14,000 for grant | 2 |
| years before the 1998 grant year, less than $16,000
for the | 3 |
| 1998 and 1999 grant years, and less than (i) $21,218 for a | 4 |
| household
containing one person, (ii) $28,480 for a household | 5 |
| containing 2 persons, or
(iii) $35,740 for a household | 6 |
| containing 3 more persons for the 2000 grant
year
and | 7 |
| thereafter. In addition, each eligible person must (1) obtain | 8 |
| an
identification card from the Department, (2) at the time the | 9 |
| card is obtained,
sign a statement assigning to the State of | 10 |
| Illinois benefits which may be
otherwise claimed under any | 11 |
| private insurance plans, and (3) present the
identification | 12 |
| card to the dispensing pharmacist.
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| The Department may adopt rules specifying
participation
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| requirements for the pharmaceutical assistance program, | 15 |
| including copayment
amounts,
identification card fees, | 16 |
| expenditure limits, and the benefit threshold after
which a 20% | 17 |
| charge is imposed on the cost of each prescription, to be in
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| effect on and
after July 1, 2004.
Notwithstanding any other | 19 |
| provision of this paragraph, however, the Department
may not
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| increase the identification card fee above the amount in effect | 21 |
| on May 1, 2003
without
the express consent of the General | 22 |
| Assembly.
To the extent practicable, those requirements shall | 23 |
| be
commensurate
with the requirements provided in rules adopted | 24 |
| by the Department of Public Aid
to
implement the pharmacy | 25 |
| assistance program under Section 5-5.12a of the Illinois
Public
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| Aid Code.
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| Whenever a generic equivalent for a covered prescription | 28 |
| drug is available,
the Department shall reimburse only for the | 29 |
| reasonable costs of the generic
equivalent, less the co-pay | 30 |
| established in this Section, unless (i) the covered
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| prescription drug contains one or more ingredients defined as a | 32 |
| narrow
therapeutic index drug at 21 CFR 320.33, (ii) the | 33 |
| prescriber indicates on the
face of the prescription "brand | 34 |
| medically necessary", and (iii) the prescriber
specifies that a | 35 |
| substitution is not permitted. When issuing an oral
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| prescription for covered prescription medication described in |
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| item (i) of this
paragraph, the prescriber shall stipulate | 2 |
| "brand medically necessary" and
that a substitution is not | 3 |
| permitted. If the covered prescription drug and its
authorizing | 4 |
| prescription do not meet the criteria listed above, the | 5 |
| beneficiary
may purchase the non-generic equivalent of the | 6 |
| covered prescription drug by
paying the difference between the | 7 |
| generic cost and the non-generic cost plus
the beneficiary | 8 |
| co-pay.
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| Any person otherwise eligible for pharmaceutical | 10 |
| assistance under this
Act whose covered drugs are covered by | 11 |
| any public program for assistance in
purchasing any covered | 12 |
| prescription drugs shall be ineligible for assistance
under | 13 |
| this Act to the extent such costs are covered by such other | 14 |
| plan.
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| The fee to be charged by the Department for the | 16 |
| identification card shall
be equal to $5 per coverage year for | 17 |
| persons below the official poverty line
as defined by the | 18 |
| United States Department of Health and Human Services and
$25 | 19 |
| per coverage year for all other persons.
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| In the event that 2 or more persons are eligible for any | 21 |
| benefit under
this Act, and are members of the same household, | 22 |
| (1) each such person shall
be entitled to participate in the | 23 |
| pharmaceutical assistance program, provided
that he or she | 24 |
| meets all other requirements imposed by this subsection
and (2) | 25 |
| each participating household member contributes the fee | 26 |
| required
for that person by the preceding paragraph for the | 27 |
| purpose
of obtaining an identification card.
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| (g) There is established a program of hearing aid | 29 |
| assistance
to the aged and disabled that shall be administered | 30 |
| by the Department in
accordance with this Act, to consist of | 31 |
| payments to eligible claimants to offset the costs of hearing | 32 |
| aids. | 33 |
| To offset the cost of the hearing aids, a person entitled | 34 |
| to claim a grant under subsection (a) of this Section is | 35 |
| entitled to receive a payment of up to $100 each calendar year | 36 |
| in which he or she purchases a hearing aid for his or her |
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| personal use. | 2 |
| For purposes of this subsection (g), "hearing aid" means an | 3 |
| ear-level or body-worn electroacoustic instrument that is used | 4 |
| for the purpose of amplifying sound and the basic components of | 5 |
| which are a microphone, amplifier, and receiver.
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| (Source: P.A. 92-131, eff.
7-23-01; 92-519, eff. 1-1-02; | 7 |
| 92-651, eff. 7-11-02; 93-130, eff. 7-10-03.)
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