Prison Medicaid Bill 

UPDATE - 1/22/2010

Illinois Psychiatric Society Praises Gov. Quinn for Signing Prison Medicaid Bill

IPS is pleased to announce that after two years of very hard work by IPS members, the Prison Medicaid Bill has been signed into law by Governor Quinn.  This law will help limit recidivism by allowing offenders who relied on Medicaid benefits when they entered prison to have their benefits reinstated immediately upon release.

"We are pleased that the governor has signed this important legislation." said Lisa A. Rone, M.D., President of IPS. “Thanks to this new law approximately 18,000 individuals who have mental illnesses or other chronic medical conditions will immediately have their Medicaid benefits and access to needed medical care upon discharge from prison. It will keep them healthy at a vulnerable time.”

Currently in Illinois, former prisoners go without medications and therapy for as long as 90 days after leaving jail because of the time lag required for the ex-offender to reapply for Medicaid benefits that were terminated when they entered prison. Now, this law allows for benefits to be suspended rather than terminated, making it easier to reinstate benefits.

IPS worked with the bill’s chief sponsor, Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-13), to introduce it during the 2008-2009 Legislative Session as SB231. In April 2009 with the support of Sen. Raoul and Rep. Connie Howard (D-34), the bill passed the Senate (58-0) and House (83-33). In July 2009, Gov. Quinn recommended changes to the bill with an amendatory veto. Recently, Sen. Raoul entered Gov. Quinn’s veto language as SB760, which passed the Senate and House with the understanding that rules implementing the suspension and reinstatement provisions would be published shortly after the signing of the bill by the Governor. The Cook County Public Defender’s Office and the Union League Club also supported this legislation.
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After attending numerous meetings on the issue of ex-offenders re-entry into the community after discharge from prison or jail, the Illinois Psychiatric Society became convinced that it was absolutely essential for mentally ill ex-offenders to have access to psychiatric care immediately upon discharge as a way to prevent recidivism amongst this population. IPS introduced SB 2303 through the bill’s Chief Sponsor, Senator Kwami Raoul.  A bill on the same issue was introduced in the House by Representative Connie Howard.  The House bill was amended to mirror SB 2303.  Unfortunately, when the Senate bill went to the House, an amendment called, “The Madigan Amendment” was added to SB 2303.  The “Madigan Amendment” was added to approximately 500 bills during the legislative session and all bills with the “Madigan Amendment” were placed in the Senate Rules Committee where all of them ultimately died.  The bill was reintroduced during the 2008-2009 Legislative Session as SB 231 by Senator Raoul.  Representative Howard also introduced her bill.  Again, her bill was amended to mirror SB 231 and both bills passed.  However, Governor Quinn added an Amendatory Veto based, in large part, on his misunderstanding of the intent of the bill. 

Here is the Governor's Message:

The following statement by Governor Quinn evidences his misunderstanding of the intent of this bill,
         “This bill addresses the important issue of medical assistance during periods of incarceration or detention.”

Due to Governor Quinn’s misunderstanding, he extended the effective date of the bill to December 31, 2011, believing that it would take 30 months to implement the bill.  IPS is continuing to work on this matter and will continue to do so during the upcoming veto session.