Bill Text: IL HR1346 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requests that the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, as well as other specified State agencies, be prepared to testify before the House State Government Administration Committee at a designated time about the steps they have taken to rectify the problems uncovered by the Auditor General's audit of the Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance Program; and urges the Governor to take appropriate action to hold those who have failed to operate the Program properly or misled the public, press, lawmakers, or auditors accountable for their actions via discipline, reprimand, or termination.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-11-16 - Referred to Rules Committee [HR1346 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2009-HR1346-Introduced.html

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HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Illinois Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance
Program was created by the General Assembly and the Governor in
2005 with the intent to make Illinois the first state in the
nation to provide affordable, comprehensive health insurance
for every child in the State; and
WHEREAS, At the time the Covering ALL KIDS Program was
established, it was estimated based on adjusted 2003 Census
data that 253,000 children in Illinois were without health
insurance, more than half of whom came from working and middle
class families who earned too much to qualify for other State
health care assistance programs, but did not have enough money
to afford private health insurance; in the years since, due to
the effects of a national recession and economic slowdown worse
than any experienced since the Great Depression era, the need
to provide access to health care to children whose families
lost jobs, income, and insurance formerly provided by a
parent's employer, has become even greater; and
WHEREAS, Research shows that uninsured children suffer
because they do not have access to adequate medical care; this
factor puts uninsured children at higher risk for
hospitalization or missed diagnoses of serious conditions;
children without health insurance often delay treatment, which

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can result in more complex, specialized, expensive, and
emergency care for critical conditions; and
WHEREAS, Studies have demonstrated that children with
health coverage are more likely to get preventative care, stay
healthy, have higher rates of school attendance, and perform
better academically; and
WHEREAS, While the uninsured pay approximately 35% of their
medical bills out of pocket, more than 40% ends up being
absorbed by those who do have health insurance in the form of
higher premiums; and
WHEREAS, The Covering ALL KIDS Program is intended to make
available to children comprehensive health insurance to cover
doctors' visits, hospital stays, prescription drugs, vision
care, dental care, and medical devices; parents are required to
make monthly premiums and co-payments for doctors' visits and
prescription drugs at affordable rates determined by their
family's income; and
WHEREAS, The Illinois Hospital Association, the Illinois
Academy of Family Physicians, and the Illinois State Medical
Society supported the creation of the Covering ALL KIDS
Program; businesses, labor organizations, community service
agencies, non-profit organizations, clergy, and elected

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officials from across the State gave the Program their
endorsement; and
WHEREAS, Legislation to establish the Covering ALL KIDS
Program, House Bill 806 of the 94th General Assembly, passed
the House and the Senate with bipartisan majorities in October
2005; the bill was signed into law in November 2005 and became
effective July 1, 2006; and
WHEREAS, The clear intention of the lawmakers who supported
the creation of the Covering ALL KIDS Program was that it would
be run in a competent, professional, and responsible manner;
that State health care agency officials and employees would use
the authority granted to them by statute to administer the
Program properly and to ensure that enrollees and their
families were correctly screened for State residency and income
verification and required to pay the appropriate premiums for
their income level; and that proper documentation and records
for Program participants would be maintained; and
WHEREAS, In September 2008, lawmakers approved via
unanimous, bipartisan votes House Bill 1533 of the 95th General
Assembly, which became effective June 1, 2009 and required the
Illinois Auditor General to conduct annual audits of the
Covering ALL KIDS Program, including payments for health
services covered by the Program and contracts entered into by

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the Department of Healthcare and Family Services; and
WHEREAS, On May 11, 2010, the Auditor General released a
report entitled "Program Audit of Covering ALL KIDS Health
Insurance Program"; among the audit's findings were that the
Department of Healthcare and Family Services incorrectly
categorized some documented immigrants as undocumented
immigrants, the number of undocumented immigrants, as well as
the costs associated with them, are overstated in data provided
by the Department, and the number of documented immigrants, as
well as the costs associated with them, are also understated;
the Auditor General noted that by not correctly classifying
documented immigrants, not only is the Department reporting
incorrect data, it is also losing out on federal matching funds
it could be receiving for documented immigrants; and
WHEREAS, The Auditor General also found that the Department
of Healthcare and Family Services and the Department of Human
Services were not obtaining documentation to support
eligibility in some instances; in particular, procedures for
verifying residency and income had not been utilized in many of
the case files reviewed by the Auditor General; as a result,
the Auditor General could not determine whether eligibility was
determined correctly by the Departments; this could result in a
family paying a higher premium or co-pay, or could result in
the State paying for a greater portion of a child's medical

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services than necessary; and
WHEREAS, The Auditor General reported that the Department
of Healthcare and Family Services had difficulty producing
complete and accurate sets of data in a timely fashion for the
audit; that the Department of Healthcare and Family Services
and the Department of Human Services did not have adequate
controls in place to ensure that individuals over the age of 18
were terminated from Covering ALL KIDS eligibility as required
by State law; that the Departments did not have adequate
controls in place to ensure that individuals were not enrolled
in the Covering ALL KIDS Program more than once with the likely
consequence that duplicate enrollees would overstate the
number of children served by the Program as well as indicate a
weakness in internal controls associated with enrolling the
children; and
WHEREAS, The Auditor General's report contained 13
recommendations; 8 recommendations were specifically for the
Department of Healthcare and Family Services and 5
recommendations were for both the Department of Healthcare and
Family Services and the Department of Human Services; both
Departments generally agreed or partially agreed with all 13
recommendations; and
WHEREAS, It is vitally important that the people of

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Illinois have faith that the Covering ALL KIDS Program is being
administered according to the requirements of the law and in
the best interests of the taxpayers of Illinois; that
participants are screened correctly for residency,
eligibility, and income levels; that enrollees pay the proper
amounts for the care they receive; and that proper records are
maintained; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
request that the Director of the Department of Healthcare and
Family Services, the Secretary of the Department of Human
Services, the Chief Operating Officer of the State, and the
Deputy Governor with responsibility for the Covering ALL KIDS
Health Insurance Program, be prepared to testify before the
House State Government Administration Committee during the
General Assembly's 2010 fall Veto Session about the steps they
have taken to rectify the problems uncovered by the Auditor
General's audit of the Covering ALL KIDS Program; that we urge
the Governor to take appropriate action to hold those who have
failed to operate the Covering ALL KIDS Program properly or
misled the public, press, lawmakers, or auditors accountable
for their actions via discipline, reprimand, or termination;
and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be delivered to

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the Governor, the Chief Operating Officer for the State of
Illinois, the Director of the Department of Healthcare and
Family Services, and the Secretary of the Department of Human
Services.