Sen. Barack Obama
Filed: 5/11/2004
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1 | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2268
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2 | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 2268, AS AMENDED, by | ||||||
3 | replacing everything after the enacting clause with the | ||||||
4 | following:
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5 | "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | ||||||
6 | Health Care
Justice Act.
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7 | Section 5. Legislative findings. The General Assembly | ||||||
8 | recognizes that the
U.S. census reported that on any given day | ||||||
9 | an
estimated
1,800,000 Illinoisans are without health | ||||||
10 | insurance,
and according to a March 2003 Robert Wood Johnson | ||||||
11 | study, nearly 30% of the
non-elderly Illinois population | ||||||
12 | (3,122,000) during all or a large part of 2001 or 2002 were
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13 | uninsured;
a growing number of
Illinoisans are under-insured, | ||||||
14 | the consumer's share of the cost of health
insurance is | ||||||
15 | growing, coverage in benefit packages is decreasing, and
record | ||||||
16 | numbers of consumer complaints are lodged against managed care
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17 | companies regarding access to necessary health care services. | ||||||
18 | The
General Assembly believes that the State must work to | ||||||
19 | assure access to
quality health care for all residents of | ||||||
20 | Illinois, and at the same time, the
State must contain health | ||||||
21 | care costs while maintaining and improving the
quality of | ||||||
22 | health care. The General Assembly finds that community-based
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23 | primary health care services provided by a wide range of | ||||||
24 | qualified health
care providers is the most effective way to |
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1 | achieve the health and well-being
of residents of Illinois.
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2 | Section 10. Policy. It is a policy goal of the State of | ||||||
3 | Illinois to insure
that all residents
have access to quality | ||||||
4 | health care at costs that are affordable.
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5 | Section 15. Health care access plan. On or before July 1, | ||||||
6 | 2007, the
State of
Illinois is strongly encouraged to implement | ||||||
7 | a health care access plan that does the
following:
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8 | (1) provides access to a full range of preventive, | ||||||
9 | acute, and
long-term health care services;
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10 | (2) maintains and improves the quality of health care | ||||||
11 | services offered
to Illinois residents;
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12 | (3) provides portability of coverage, regardless of | ||||||
13 | employment status;
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14 | (4) provides core benefits for all Illinois residents;
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15 | (5) encourages regional and local consumer | ||||||
16 | participation;
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17 | (6) contains cost-containment measures;
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18 | (7) provides a mechanism for reviewing and | ||||||
19 | implementing multiple
approaches to preventive medicine | ||||||
20 | based on new technologies; and
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21 | (8) promotes affordable coverage options for the small | ||||||
22 | business market.
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23 | Section 20. Adequate Health Care Task Force.
There is | ||||||
24 | created an Adequate Health Care Task Force. The Task Force
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25 | shall consist of 24 members, including
the Director of Public | ||||||
26 | Health or his or her designee, the
Director of Aging or his or | ||||||
27 | her designee, the Director of
Public Aid or his or her | ||||||
28 | designee, the Director of
Insurance or his or her designee, and | ||||||
29 | the Secretary of
Human Services or his or her designee,
all of | ||||||
30 | whom shall be
ex-officio non-voting members.
The remaining 19 | ||||||
31 | members of the Task Force shall be voting members and shall be
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1 | appointed by
the Governor, one from each congressional district | ||||||
2 | in Illinois. These voting
members
shall be appointed to include | ||||||
3 | representation of health care consumers,
advocates
for
health | ||||||
4 | care consumers, health care providers, health policy analysts,
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5 | organized labor, the business
community or a business | ||||||
6 | association, economists, a statewide advocacy
organization for | ||||||
7 | persons with disabilities, physicians, nurses, social
workers, | ||||||
8 | a hospital or hospital network or association, an insurer or | ||||||
9 | insurance
group, and health care
administrators.
Appointment | ||||||
10 | of members of the Task Force shall ensure
proportional | ||||||
11 | representation with respect to geography, ethnicity, race,
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12 | gender, and age. The Task Force shall have a chairman and a | ||||||
13 | vice-chairman who
shall be elected by the voting members at the | ||||||
14 | first meeting
of the Task Force. The members of the Task Force | ||||||
15 | shall be appointed
within 30 days after the effective date of | ||||||
16 | this Act. The departments of State
government represented on
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17 | the Task Force shall work cooperatively to provide | ||||||
18 | administrative
support for the Task Force; the Department of | ||||||
19 | Public Health shall be the
primary agency in providing that | ||||||
20 | administrative support.
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21 | Section 25. Public hearings.
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22 | (a) The Task Force shall seek public
input on the | ||||||
23 | development of the health care access plan by holding
a public | ||||||
24 | hearing in each Illinois congressional district starting no | ||||||
25 | later than January 1, 2005 and
ending on November 30, 2005. | ||||||
26 | Each State Representative and State Senator
located in
each | ||||||
27 | such congressional district shall be invited to participate in
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28 | the hearing in that district
and help to gather input from | ||||||
29 | interested parties. A web site for the Task Force shall be | ||||||
30 | developed and
linked to
the Governor's home page for input to | ||||||
31 | be
provided and to keep the public informed. The Task Force's | ||||||
32 | web site shall be
specifically highlighted and have independent | ||||||
33 | pages reporting all activities
and linkages
for people to |
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1 | access. Minutes from all of the Task Force's meetings shall be
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2 | available on
the web site, and a hard copy of this information | ||||||
3 | shall also be made available
for those
persons without access | ||||||
4 | to the Task Force's web site.
The Task Force may also consult | ||||||
5 | with
health care providers, health care consumers, and other | ||||||
6 | appropriate
individuals and organizations to assist in the | ||||||
7 | development of the
health care access plan.
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8 | (b) Not later than September 1, 2004, the Illinois | ||||||
9 | Department of Public
Health,
subject to appropriation or the | ||||||
10 | availability of other funds for such purposes
and using a | ||||||
11 | public request for proposals process, shall
contract with an
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12 | independent research entity experienced in assessing health | ||||||
13 | care reforms,
health care financing, and health care delivery | ||||||
14 | models. Upon the request of at
least one-fourth of the Task | ||||||
15 | Force members, the research entity
shall be
available to the | ||||||
16 | Task Force for the purpose of assessing financial costs and
the | ||||||
17 | different
health care models being discussed. All inquiries | ||||||
18 | made by Task Force members to
the
independent research entity | ||||||
19 | shall be made available on the Task Force's web
site.
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20 | Section 30. Final report.
No later than March 15, 2006, the | ||||||
21 | Task Force shall submit its final report
on the health care | ||||||
22 | access plan to the General Assembly and the
Governor. The final | ||||||
23 | report may recommend a combination of more than one type
of | ||||||
24 | plan
and alternative methods of funding the plan. The final | ||||||
25 | report by the
Task Force
shall make
recommendations for a | ||||||
26 | health care access plan or plans
that would
provide access to a | ||||||
27 | full
range of preventive, acute, and long-term health care | ||||||
28 | services to residents
of the State of Illinois by July 1, 2007, | ||||||
29 | including:
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30 | (1) an integrated system or systems of health care | ||||||
31 | delivery;
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32 | (2) incentives to be used to contain costs;
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33 | (3) core benefits that would be provided under each |
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1 | type of plan;
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2 | (4) reimbursement mechanisms for health care | ||||||
3 | providers;
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4 | (5) administrative efficiencies;
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5 | (6) mechanisms for generating spending priorities | ||||||
6 | based on
multidisciplinary standards of care established | ||||||
7 | by verifiable replicated
research studies demonstrating | ||||||
8 | quality and cost effectiveness of
interventions, | ||||||
9 | providers, and facilities;
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10 | (7) methods for reducing the cost of prescription drugs | ||||||
11 | both as part of,
and as
separate from, the health care | ||||||
12 | access plan;
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13 | (8) appropriate reallocation of existing health care | ||||||
14 | resources;
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15 | (9) equitable financing of each proposal; and
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16 | (10) recommendations concerning the delivery of | ||||||
17 | long-term care services,
including:
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18 | (A) those currently covered under Title XIX of the | ||||||
19 | Social Security
Act;
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20 | (B) recommendations on potential cost sharing | ||||||
21 | arrangements for
long-term care services and the | ||||||
22 | phasing in of such arrangements over
time;
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23 | (C) consideration of the potential for utilizing | ||||||
24 | informal care-giving by
friends and family members;
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25 | (D) recommendations on cost-containment strategies | ||||||
26 | for long-term
care services;
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27 | (E) the possibility of using independent financing | ||||||
28 | for the provision of
long-term care services; and
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29 | (F) the projected cost to the State of Illinois | ||||||
30 | over the next 20 years
if
no changes were made in the | ||||||
31 | present system of delivering and paying
for long-term | ||||||
32 | care services.
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33 | Section 35. Further legislative action. No later than |
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1 | December 31, 2006, the General Assembly is strongly encouraged | ||||||
2 | to vote on
legislation that either enacts the Task Force's | ||||||
3 | recommendation or provides for
another
health care access plan | ||||||
4 | that meets the criteria set forth in Section 15.
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5 | Section 99. This Act takes effect July 1, 2004.".
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