Issues

Nearly 1.7 million people in Illinois have no health insurance, and those with insurance have seen a rapid increase in their premiums. As Attorney General, Lisa Madigan has been fully committed to ensuring that affordable, quality healthcare is available to all Illinois citizens.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan fought hard for a new law, the Hospital Uninsured Patient Discount Act, which gives uninsured citizens access to affordable healthcare.  Prior to this law, hospitals routinely charged the highest prices to the uninsured.  This Act stops hospitals from gouging the uninsured by limiting charges to 35% above cost and makes Illinois the only state in the nation to protect the uninsured from bankruptcy due to medical emergencies.  Attorney General Lisa Madigan also worked to pass the Fair Patient Billing Act, to ensure that hospitals provide clear and complete information to patients on their bills and to prevent hospitals from engaging in unfair collection practices.

Attorney General Madigan has also fought for greater access to health care for the poor and uninsured by demanding that non-profit hospitals, which obtain significant financial benefits through State tax exemptions, provide a meaningful level of charity care.  
 
Making health care more affordable by lowering the cost of prescription drugs has also been a priority of Attorney General Madigan.  Since 2005, Lisa Madigan has filed suit against 48 drug makers for fraudulently inflating their wholesale drug prices. 

Attorney General Lisa Madigan has been tireless in her efforts to eliminate waste and fraud in the Medicaid system, which helps protect the financial resources of this critical program, lowers costs and protects taxpayer dollars. Attorney General Madigan has fought health care providers, HMOs and drug companies that have defrauded the State’s Medicaid system and has recovered well over $100 million in just the past four years. 

Ensuring quality, affordable healthcare for all is a priority for Attorney General Madigan, and she will continue to remain focused on this goal in her next term.