Illinois legislature overrides revisions from governor to approve bill that requires hospitals to provide discounts to uninsured

The Illinois Legislature this week voted unanimously to override Gov. Rod Blagojevich's (D) revisions of a bill to give uninsured Illinois residents a discount on hospital care, the Chicago Tribune's "Triage" reports.

The state Senate voted 55-0 on Monday and the state House voted 97-0 on Tuesday to authorize the bill, which now has become law (Graham, "Triage," Chicago Tribune, 9/25). Under the law, hospitals must provide uninsured Illinoisans the "most generous discounts in the U.S."

Illinois hospitals had agreed to limit the amount it charged most uninsured patients to the actual cost plus 35%. However, Blagojevich's amendatory veto reduced that markup from 35% to 20% and specified that patients with incomes less than twice the poverty level and a family of four with an income of $42,400 or less would not pay any markup. In addition, the revision raised the qualification for hospital discounts for urban families from 600% of the federal poverty level to 800% and for rural families from 300% to 600% (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 9/15).

Under the new law, the cap has been set at 25% of a patient's gross income. According to the Tribune's "Triage," Illinois will be the first state to restrict the amount residents without health care coverage will have to pay a hospital in one year. State hospitals have 180 days to comply with the law ("Triage," Chicago Tribune, 9/25).