SPRINGFIELD— State Representative Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) voted today in favor of reforms to cut $1.6 billion from the state Medicaid program.
âThe Medicaid System has become over inflated,â said Durkin. âWe have 3 million in Illinois people on Medicaid with an estimated 300,000 that do not qualify. This legislation gives the state the ability to verify eligibility and scrub the rolls as needed.â
Senate Bill 2840 allows the state to verify income, residency, and check age requirements of each participant on a regular basis.
âThe proof is in the numbers. Illinoisâ Medicaid program is comparably very generous, one of the largest areas of state spending, and continues to grow so that now one in every five Illinois citizens is covered by Medicaid,â said Rep. Durkin. âThis is simply unsustainable.â
Specifically, Senate Bill 2840 will:
• Roll Back the Blagojevich expansion of Family Care by reducing the eligibility limit for parents to $30,000 for a family of four
• Imposes a $10 co-pay for emergency room visits
• Requires a $3.60 co-pay on all services and a $2 co-pay for generic medications
• Limits prescription coverage to four prescriptions per month without doctor certification or need or specialty drug/condition exception
• Eliminates funding for adult chiropractic services