Dupage Policy Journal

Illinois residents have broader health care options and stronger property rights, thanks to two pieces of recently enacted legislation, Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) said.

House Bill 311, which Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law in September, provides health insurance customers with wider, more transparent care networks, Ives said in a Nov. 2 release, and HB189, signed by Rauner in August, better protects property rights of residents who own condominiums or belong to homeowner associations.

Ives said she was instrumental in forging and passing both bills, along with Sen. Michael Connelly, (R-Naperville) and Rep. Gregory Harris (D-Chicago).

“Being a member of the minority party in the state Legislature makes it more difficult to pass legislation, unless you are willing to work across the aisle to build bipartisan support for good public policy,” Ives said in the release.

HB 311, which Ives initiated, helped clear up a health insurance system she claims forced patients into “narrow” and “tiered” networks. Harris served as the bill’s chief sponsor, ensuring bipartisan support, Ives said in the release.

The bill’s provisions include requiring insurance companies to provide patients with networks close to home with adequate facilities, doctors and specialists. It also calls for insurers to keep current directories of providers and inform patients “in a timely fashion” if a provider is dropped, Ives said in the release. Even when a provider is dropped, expectant mothers and “patients with complex conditions” may stay with that doctor long enough to make a “smooth transition” to a new doctor with no additional fees, Ives said. There are also more rigorous requirements for new patient notifications from doctors deciding to leave their current network.

Ives also helped with HB189, a retooling of the Illinois Condominium Property Act and Common Interest Association Act. Ives said she and Connelly were inspired to push the changes after meeting with constituents “who were being forced out of their ownership interests by large real estate companies who wanted to return the units to rental,” the release said.

Some of the new provisions focus on what condominium boards may do with any surplus at the close of a fiscal year, Ives said in the release. That could include transferring it to reserve funds, returning it to owners as credit against any remaining assessments, or direct refunds to owners. Another option is leaving the surplus in an operating account to credit the next fiscal year’s budget. The new law also requires compensation of interest or bona fide debt – whichever is greater – and relocation expenses, within reason, for condominium owners in forced sales, she said in the release.