Medicaid reform won approval from both the Illinois House and Senate last Thursday through Senate Bill 2840, or the Save Medicaid Access and Resources Together (SMART) Act. The bill passed the House with 94 votes in favor and 22 votes against, and the Senate 44 to 13.

The SMART Act aims to tighten eligibility for medical checkups and imposes limits on how many times a patient can use a particular Medicare service. It also caps the cost of treatment a patient can receive and makes rate cuts to some Medicare providers while reducing and eliminating some of their services.

Governor Pat Quinn released a statement regarding Senate Bill 2840’s passage by the Illinois General Assembly last Thursday as well.

“I salute speaker Michael Madigan, House Minority Leader Tom Cross, Senate President John Cullerton, Minority Leader Christine Radogno, Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, Rep. Patti Bellock, Sen. Heather Steans, Sen. Dale Righter, members of the General Assembly and everyone who joined the working group for making significant progress today towards rescuing our Medicaid system,” Quinn said in the press release. “This is the first step toward saving Medicaid for those that rely upon it. The status quo would have led to Medicaid’s collapse and I am pleased to see the General Assembly take strong action to put our Medicaid system and our state on the path to sound fiscal footing.”

Despite the bipartisanship displayed in the bill’s passage, it still met firm opposition from some outside groups. The Champaign County Health Care Consumers’ Medicare Task Force released a statement which said it hand-delivered over 600 signatures in opposition to the bill in an attempt to dissuade lawmakers from passing it. The group believes the cuts to Medicaid will be “devastating” for people with disabilities, children and low-income seniors.

Quinn also urged lawmakers to quickly pass legislation to add a one-dollar tax to the purchase of a pack of cigarettes, which he believes will help generate the necessary $2.7 billion in state revenue that’s necessary to rescue Illinois’ Medicaid program.

“The General Assembly must move quickly to pass legislation to add a dollar a pack to the cost of cigarettes, which — combined with today’s legislation — will achieve the necessary $2.7 billion in savings to rescue Medicaid,” Quinn said. “Raising the price of cigarettes is also sound health policy; smoking-related conditions are a significant burden on our Medicaid system, and this measure will improve the health of our people and reduce future Medicaid costs. Members of the General Assembly should not delay in taking action to reduce our Medicaid burden and access dollar-for-dollar federal matching funds by increasing the price of cigarettes.”

The dollar cigarette tax hike was approved by the Illinois House last Saturday and currently awaits Senate approval.