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