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.