The General Assembly Approves Budget for Fiscal Year 2025
May 31, 2024
The General Assembly had planned to pass a budget and adjourn before the Memorial Day Holiday weekend, but lawmakers instead continued working through the middle of this past week.
Late Sunday, May 26, the Senate passed a $53.1 billion budget, which the House then approved in the early morning hours on Wednesday.
The package aligned with Governor Pritzker’s budget address earlier this year and includes:
- $10 million to support a Department of Healthcare and Family Service program to relieve medical debt for more than 300,000 Illinoisans.
- $182 million to provide healthcare and other services to asylum seekers in Chicago.
- $440 million for two programs that provide a Medicaid type of coverage for some undocumented adults.
- A $1 per-hour wage increase for direct service professionals who care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Workers who serve older adults who cannot live independently will also receive a $1 per hour wage increase.
The General Assembly also passed an omnibus Medicaid package that would:
- Include a one-time reimbursement increase of $264 per hour for psychiatrists.
- Add limited test and treat authority for pharmacists.
- Create a “gold card” program for highly rated hospitals and physicians requesting prior authorization for in-patient hospital services. Medicaid managed care companies will identify hospitals and physicians based on the number of submitted service authorizations requests in the preceding calendar year and whether they had a 90% or higher approval rate. This does not apply to pharmacy or durable medical equipment services.
- Establish a 72-hour rule to permit emergency department physicians to admit a patient for inpatient care to stabilize a medical emergency condition without seeking prior authorization from a Medicaid manage care company.
- Remove prior authorization of prescription psychotropic drugs for adults who have serious mental health illnesses.