Rep. La Shawn K. Ford (D-Chicago) introduced House Bill 5868 in the House last week to amend the Insurance Code to include services to people suffering alcoholism or other drug addiction.
The bill, referred to the Rule Committee, would allow a “group or individual policy of accident and health insurance or managed care plan amended, delivered, issued, or renewed on or after the effective date of the amendatory act to provide coverage for residential extended care services and support for persons suffering from alcoholism or other drug addiction.”
Requirements are that a health care clinic or the equivalent conduct an individualized assessment of the person's condition prior to discharge, that residential care services and support promptly be administered and that the services be referred by a health care clinic or any other specified entity.
The bill also requires the Department of Insurance to rate every community based agency under contract or licensed by the Department of Health and Human Services and to make those findings public on its official website.
The bill would pave for the way all fee-for-service and managed care medical assistance programs authorized under the Insurance Code to “provide coverage for residential extended care services and supports for any person suffering from alcoholism or other drug addiction who is at risk of a drug or alcohol relapse following discharge from a health care clinic or any other specified entity.”
Ford represents the 8th House District which includes parts of Chicago, Oak Park, North Riverside, Brookfield and La Grange.
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