August
21, 2018
To
the Honorable Members of
The
Illinois House of Representatives,
100th
General Assembly:
Today I
return House Bill 5104, an amendment to the Unified Code of Corrections, with
specific recommendations for change.
It is essential
that we ensure inmates in the Department of Corrections have access to health
care for check-ups and for specialty care. Current law allows an indigent
inmate to see a doctor or dentist without paying a co-pay and other inmates to
see doctors for a $5 co-pay. This legislation would eliminate the co-pay for
every inmate receiving medical or dental treatment.
It is
important to balance the need to provide medical services with potential abuses
of a free medical system that could create significant backlogs in an already
overburdened Corrections healthcare system. For that reason, I recommend
reducing the current $5 co-pay for inmates to $3.90, the co-pay for Medicaid
recipients in Illinois.
Therefore,
pursuant to Section 9(e) of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I
hereby return House Bill 5104, entitled “AN ACT concerning criminal law”, with
the following specific recommendations for change:
By
replacing line 20 on page 4 through line 21 on page 5 with the following:
“by the Department. The Department
shall require the committed person receiving medical or dental services on a
non-emergency basis to pay a $53.90 co-payment
to the Department for each visit for medical or dental services. The amount of
each co-payment shall be deducted from the committed person's individual
account. A committed person who has a chronic illness, as defined by Department
rules and regulations, shall be exempt from the $53.90 co-payment
for treatment of the chronic illness. A committed person shall not be subject
to a $53.90 co-payment for follow-up visits ordered by a
physician, who is employed by, or contracts with, the Department. A committed
person who is indigent is exempt from the $53.90 co-payment and
is entitled to receive medical or dental services on the same basis as a
committed person who is financially able to afford the co-payment. For purposes
of this Section only, "indigent" means a committed person who has $20
or less in his or her Inmate Trust Fund at the time of such services and for
the 30 days prior to such services. Notwithstanding any other provision in this
subsection (f) to the contrary, any person committed to any facility operated
by the Department of Juvenile Justice, as set forth in Section 3-2.5-15 of this
Code, is exempt from the co-payment requirement for the duration of confinement
in those facilities.”
With
these changes, House Bill 5104 will have my approval. I respectfully request
your concurrence.
Sincerely,
Bruce
Rauner
GOVERNOR