McHenry Times

Republican state Rep. Dan Ugaste is taking note of Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently moving to sign a bill into law that has increasingly grown popular with residents across the state during the age of COVID-19.

“The telehealth expansion bill passed by the General Assembly this spring was signed into law, increasing access to care for Illinoisans,” Ugaste recently posted on Facebook. 

Pritzker likewise didn’t hesitate in pointing out that the new law puts Illinois in a class few other states can lay claim to.

“The legislation I’ll sign today will solidify Illinois as a leader in telehealth access and expansion in the nation,” he said. “Illinois is now one of the first states in the nation to turn our emergency pandemic response into a permanent reality.”

The governor first moved to sign Executive Order 2020-09, according to WREX, that obligates insurance companies to reimburse health care providers for telehealth services at the same rates as in-person care as of March of 2020. House Bill 3308, the measure he formally put his signature on earlier this month, now extends that payment parity for telehealth services through 2027.

The new law also prohibits insurance companies from requiring a patient to attend an in-person visit before a telehealth service, as well as bars them from mandating that patients provide a reason for choosing a telehealth screening as opposed to in-person consultation.

HB 3308 is slated to go into effect immediately with the legislation also stipulating that a study be reported in 2026 that will examine the impact of telehealth on health equity and patient access to care.