Full Text of HR1346 096th General Assembly
HR1346 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The Illinois Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance | 3 |
| Program was created by the General Assembly and the Governor in | 4 |
| 2005 with the intent to make Illinois the first state in the | 5 |
| nation to provide affordable, comprehensive health insurance | 6 |
| for every child in the State; and
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| WHEREAS, At the time the Covering ALL KIDS Program was | 8 |
| established, it was estimated based on adjusted 2003 Census | 9 |
| data that 253,000 children in Illinois were without health | 10 |
| insurance, more than half of whom came from working and middle | 11 |
| class families who earned too much to qualify for other State | 12 |
| health care assistance programs, but did not have enough money | 13 |
| to afford private health insurance; in the years since, due to | 14 |
| the effects of a national recession and economic slowdown worse | 15 |
| than any experienced since the Great Depression era, the need | 16 |
| to provide access to health care to children whose families | 17 |
| lost jobs, income, and insurance formerly provided by a | 18 |
| parent's employer, has become even greater; and
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| WHEREAS, Research shows that uninsured children suffer | 20 |
| because they do not have access to adequate medical care; this | 21 |
| factor puts uninsured children at higher risk for | 22 |
| hospitalization or missed diagnoses of serious conditions; | 23 |
| children without health insurance often delay treatment, which |
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| can result in more complex, specialized, expensive, and | 2 |
| emergency care for critical conditions; and
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| WHEREAS, Studies have demonstrated that children with | 4 |
| health coverage are more likely to get preventative care, stay | 5 |
| healthy, have higher rates of school attendance, and perform | 6 |
| better academically; and
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| WHEREAS, While the uninsured pay approximately 35% of their | 8 |
| medical bills out of pocket, more than 40% ends up being | 9 |
| absorbed by those who do have health insurance in the form of | 10 |
| higher premiums; and
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| WHEREAS, The Covering ALL KIDS Program is intended to make | 12 |
| available to children comprehensive health insurance to cover | 13 |
| doctors' visits, hospital stays, prescription drugs, vision | 14 |
| care, dental care, and medical devices; parents are required to | 15 |
| make monthly premiums and co-payments for doctors' visits and | 16 |
| prescription drugs at affordable rates determined by their | 17 |
| family's income; and
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| WHEREAS, The Illinois Hospital Association, the Illinois | 19 |
| Academy of Family Physicians, and the Illinois State Medical | 20 |
| Society supported the creation of the Covering ALL KIDS | 21 |
| Program; businesses, labor organizations, community service | 22 |
| agencies, non-profit organizations, clergy, and elected |
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| officials from across the State gave the Program their | 2 |
| endorsement; and
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| WHEREAS, Legislation to establish the Covering ALL KIDS | 4 |
| Program, House Bill 806 of the 94th General Assembly, passed | 5 |
| the House and the Senate with bipartisan majorities in October | 6 |
| 2005; the bill was signed into law in November 2005 and became | 7 |
| effective July 1, 2006; and
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| WHEREAS, The clear intention of the lawmakers who supported | 9 |
| the creation of the Covering ALL KIDS Program was that it would | 10 |
| be run in a competent, professional, and responsible manner; | 11 |
| that State health care agency officials and employees would use | 12 |
| the authority granted to them by statute to administer the | 13 |
| Program properly and to ensure that enrollees and their | 14 |
| families were correctly screened for State residency and income | 15 |
| verification and required to pay the appropriate premiums for | 16 |
| their income level; and that proper documentation and records | 17 |
| for Program participants would be maintained; and
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| WHEREAS, In September 2008, lawmakers approved via | 19 |
| unanimous, bipartisan votes House Bill 1533 of the 95th General | 20 |
| Assembly, which became effective June 1, 2009 and required the | 21 |
| Illinois Auditor General to conduct annual audits of the | 22 |
| Covering ALL KIDS Program, including payments for health | 23 |
| services covered by the Program and contracts entered into by |
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| the Department of Healthcare and Family Services; and
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| WHEREAS, On May 11, 2010, the Auditor General released a | 3 |
| report entitled "Program Audit of Covering ALL KIDS Health | 4 |
| Insurance Program"; among the audit's findings were that the | 5 |
| Department of Healthcare and Family Services incorrectly | 6 |
| categorized some documented immigrants as undocumented | 7 |
| immigrants, the number of undocumented immigrants, as well as | 8 |
| the costs associated with them, are overstated in data provided | 9 |
| by the Department, and the number of documented immigrants, as | 10 |
| well as the costs associated with them, are also understated; | 11 |
| the Auditor General noted that by not correctly classifying | 12 |
| documented immigrants, not only is the Department reporting | 13 |
| incorrect data, it is also losing out on federal matching funds | 14 |
| it could be receiving for documented immigrants; and
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| WHEREAS, The Auditor General also found that the Department | 16 |
| of Healthcare and Family Services and the Department of Human | 17 |
| Services were not obtaining documentation to support | 18 |
| eligibility in some instances; in particular, procedures for | 19 |
| verifying residency and income had not been utilized in many of | 20 |
| the case files reviewed by the Auditor General; as a result, | 21 |
| the Auditor General could not determine whether eligibility was | 22 |
| determined correctly by the Departments; this could result in a | 23 |
| family paying a higher premium or co-pay, or could result in | 24 |
| the State paying for a greater portion of a child's medical |
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| services than necessary; and
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| WHEREAS, The Auditor General reported that the Department | 3 |
| of Healthcare and Family Services had difficulty producing | 4 |
| complete and accurate sets of data in a timely fashion for the | 5 |
| audit; that the Department of Healthcare and Family Services | 6 |
| and the Department of Human Services did not have adequate | 7 |
| controls in place to ensure that individuals over the age of 18 | 8 |
| were terminated from Covering ALL KIDS eligibility as required | 9 |
| by State law; that the Departments did not have adequate | 10 |
| controls in place to ensure that individuals were not enrolled | 11 |
| in the Covering ALL KIDS Program more than once with the likely | 12 |
| consequence that duplicate enrollees would overstate the | 13 |
| number of children served by the Program as well as indicate a | 14 |
| weakness in internal controls associated with enrolling the | 15 |
| children; and
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| WHEREAS, The Auditor General's report contained 13 | 17 |
| recommendations; 8 recommendations were specifically for the | 18 |
| Department of Healthcare and Family Services and 5 | 19 |
| recommendations were for both the Department of Healthcare and | 20 |
| Family Services and the Department of Human Services; both | 21 |
| Departments generally agreed or partially agreed with all 13 | 22 |
| recommendations; and
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| WHEREAS, It is vitally important that the people of |
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| Illinois have faith that the Covering ALL KIDS Program is being | 2 |
| administered according to the requirements of the law and in | 3 |
| the best interests of the taxpayers of Illinois; that | 4 |
| participants are screened correctly for residency, | 5 |
| eligibility, and income levels; that enrollees pay the proper | 6 |
| amounts for the care they receive; and that proper records are | 7 |
| maintained; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 9 |
| NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 10 |
| request that the Director of the Department of Healthcare and | 11 |
| Family Services, the Secretary of the Department of Human | 12 |
| Services, the Chief Operating Officer of the State, and the | 13 |
| Deputy Governor with responsibility for the Covering ALL KIDS | 14 |
| Health Insurance Program, be prepared to testify before the | 15 |
| House State Government Administration Committee during the | 16 |
| General Assembly's 2010 fall Veto Session about the steps they | 17 |
| have taken to rectify the problems uncovered by the Auditor | 18 |
| General's audit of the Covering ALL KIDS Program; that we urge | 19 |
| the Governor to take appropriate action to hold those who have | 20 |
| failed to operate the Covering ALL KIDS Program properly or | 21 |
| misled the public, press, lawmakers, or auditors accountable | 22 |
| for their actions via discipline, reprimand, or termination; | 23 |
| and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be delivered to |
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| the Governor, the Chief Operating Officer for the State of | 2 |
| Illinois, the Director of the Department of Healthcare and | 3 |
| Family Services, and the Secretary of the Department of Human | 4 |
| Services.
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