Take Action: Make Healthcare More Accessible
4/28/26
In a time when more than 470,000 Illinoisans are predicted to lose health insurance coverage as a result of HR1, SB3976/HB5390 Patient Bill & Outsourced Care seeks to protect the most vulnerable of our community by strengthening existing hospital financial laws to reflect today’s economic realities and close gaps that allow unfair billing practices.
This proposed legislation will help prevent medical debt and financial hardship, promote transparency and fairness in hospital billing, align financial assistance policies with increased cost of living expenses, and ensure hospitals fulfill their community benefit responsibilities.
This hospital financial assistance bill has successfully passed the Illinois House and is now being considered in the Illinois Senate! Call or email your Illinois state senator and ask them to support this bill.
Key policy reforms offered by this bill:
Increase Income Eligibility Levels from 200% FPL to 300% FPL. Current income thresholds are too low and exclude working families.
Streamline and increase access to the application process by creating a standard charity care application and establishing one-year approvals.
Eliminating the asset test. Many hospitals require patients to “spend down” modest savings, retirement accounts, or emergency funds before qualifying for assistance.
Close the loophole on hospital billing for “outsourced” care. Patients may receive care in an emergency room and may not know whether the hospital physician is directly employed by the hospital or an outsourced provider, resulting in surprise bills from the outsourced provider even after approval for hospital financial assistance. Hospitals often outsource services like emergency physicians, anesthesiology, radiology, and laboratory work.
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