Deuter casts Yes vote for insurance mandate on 12-month hormone therapy supply

Rep. Martha Deuter (D-45th) supported HB5492 during the 104th General Assembly on May 31, 2026, as the Illinois House approved the measure with a 75-39 vote, according to the Illinois House.

The official bill summary lists the measure as: "PRESCRIPTION HORMONE THERAPY."

The summary below draws directly from the bill text and, where needed, provides clarification of the bill's major provisions.

Essentially, the legislation stipulates that beginning Jan. 1, 2028, most individual and group health insurance plans in Illinois—including state employee and Medicaid coverage—must authorize up to a 12-month supply of prescription hormone therapy and related self-administration aids, provided by an in-network provider and dispensed in one instance. The bill specifies which types of hormone therapy are included (excluding glucagon-like peptide-1 drugs), allows insurers to use drug management tools and set limits on year-end refills after a 12-month supply has been dispensed, and requires health plans to facilitate access to out-of-network providers when needed. Pharmacists and dispensing practitioners, with few exceptions, must dispense up to a 12-month supply on request from the patient.

HB5492’s legislative status was recorded as 'Senate Floor Amendment No. 2 House Concurs.'

Deuter earned a BSW from Ohio University in 1995.

She was elected to the Illinois State House in 2025 as a Democrat representing the 45th District, succeeding Jenn Ladisch Douglass.

A bill in Illinois goes through a legislative pathway starting from introduction in either the House or Senate, moving through committee consideration, floor debates, and voting in both chambers before heading to the governor for approval or veto. The General Assembly meets on a biennial basis; several thousand measures are introduced every session, though only a small share become law.