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| 1 | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, When patients develop end stage kidney, liver, or | ||||||
| 3 | heart disease, sometimes the only chance for a cure is a | ||||||
| 4 | life-saving transplantation; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, Despite federal laws that stipulate that organs | ||||||
| 6 | should be allocated regardless of financial status, race, or | ||||||
| 7 | national origin, in reality, lack of insurance prevents most of | ||||||
| 8 | the uninsured in need of transplantation from ever getting one; | ||||||
| 9 | these patients with end-organ failure are high utilizers of | ||||||
| 10 | costly health care services throughout their lives; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, Thirty percent of organ donors in the greater | ||||||
| 12 | Chicago area are uninsured, yet less than 2% of the organ | ||||||
| 13 | transplants go to the uninsured; and
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| 14 | WHEREAS, For uninsured patients with kidney failure, the | ||||||
| 15 | Illinois Medicaid program pays for life saving dialysis costing | ||||||
| 16 | upwards of $100,000 per year for the lifetime of the patient; | ||||||
| 17 | however, the program denies payment for life-saving kidney | ||||||
| 18 | transplants and post-transplant care; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, Many uninsured patients have family members or | ||||||
| 20 | friends who would donate an organ, but for lack of insurance | ||||||
| 21 | coverage, are unable to do so; and
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| 1 | WHEREAS, A program that would extend Illinois Medicaid to | ||||||
| 2 | these patients would save the program money over time, as the | ||||||
| 3 | care for a transplanted organ is less than the cost of | ||||||
| 4 | maintaining a patient on lifelong dialysis; therefore, be it
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| 5 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 6 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | ||||||
| 7 | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that there is created the Illinois | ||||||
| 8 | Taskforce on Organ Transplantation for the Uninsured to develop | ||||||
| 9 | proposals to expand Illinois Medicaid to include coverage for | ||||||
| 10 | transplantation evaluation, organ allocation, and | ||||||
| 11 | post-transplant medical care for the uninsured; and be it | ||||||
| 12 | further
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| 13 | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall consist of the | ||||||
| 14 | following members: | ||||||
| 15 | (1) 3 members of the Illinois House of Representatives | ||||||
| 16 | appointed by the Speaker of the House; | ||||||
| 17 | (2) 3 members of the Illinois House of Representatives | ||||||
| 18 | appointed by the House Minority Leader; | ||||||
| 19 | (3) 3 members of the Illinois Senate appointed by the | ||||||
| 20 | President of the Senate; | ||||||
| 21 | (4) 3 members of the Illinois Senate appointed by the | ||||||
| 22 | Minority Leader of the Senate; and | ||||||
| 23 | (5) 4 members representing non-profit health care | ||||||
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| 1 | organizations, one appointed by each of the 4 caucus leaders; | ||||||
| 2 | and be it further | ||||||
| 3 | RESOLVED, That the Illinois Department of Healthcare and | ||||||
| 4 | Family Services shall provide administrative and other support | ||||||
| 5 | to the Task Force; and be it further | ||||||
| 6 | RESOLVED, That the members of the Task Force shall serve | ||||||
| 7 | without compensation; and be it further | ||||||
| 8 | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall submit a report of its | ||||||
| 9 | findings and recommendations to the General Assembly no later | ||||||
| 10 | than January 1, 2015.
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