August 21, 2015
To the Honorable
Members of
The Illinois Senate,
99th General
Assembly:
Today I veto Senate Bill 661 from the
99th General Assembly in order to shield Illinois from significant spending
mandates and to protect our State’s health care providers from unnecessary civil
liability.
Senate Bill 661 creates the Hepatitis C
Screening Act, which stems from the hard work of the Illinois Hepatitis C Task
Force. This bill requires health care practitioners, regardless of setting, to offer
a hepatitis C screening test to individuals born between 1945 and 1965, unless
the health care practitioner reasonably believes that certain conditions are
present. The bill also requires all insurers, public and private, to provide coverage
for hepatitis C screening and confirmatory testing consistent with reasonable
medical standards.
I support the General Assembly’s determination
to combat hepatitis C. I further applaud
the members of the Illinois Hepatitis C Task Force for their efforts to raise awareness
of this very serious problem.
Senate Bill 661, however, imposes
significant short-term financial obligations upon the State Medicaid agency and
the State health insurance plan at a time when Illinois is facing a fiscal
crisis. The bill would help identify Illinoisans afflicted with hepatitis C,
but it does not address the important question of how to pay for the expensive
treatment necessary to defeat the disease. It is an untenable position to
diagnose a disease but not account for funding for the treatment.
The bill further mandates that doctors
adhere to the “Testing Recommendations for Chronic Hepatitis C Virus
Infection.” By dictating a specific standard of care to doctors, the bill sets
an ill-advised precedent with respect to the State’s health care industry. This
bill replaces doctors’ ability to provide patient-centered care with
government-mandated medical care. This could expose our doctors to new and
costly litigation, which will further increase medical costs.
Therefore, pursuant to Section 9(b) of
Article IV of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return Senate Bill 661,
entitled “AN ACT concerning public health”, with the foregoing objections,
vetoed in its entirety.
Sincerely,
Bruce Rauner
GOVERNOR