Halpin-Backed Bill Streamlining Prescription Process Now Law

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A law backed by state Rep. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, will make it easier for patients to get critical medications by streamlining the process pharmacies use to fill prescriptions.

“The bureaucracy imposed by insurance companies is clogging our health care system with red tape and making it harder for patients to get medications they need on time,” Halpin said. “Our community deserves a streamlined prescription-filling process built around keeping them healthy, not boosting an insurance executive’s bottom line.”

Halpin worked to pass House Bill 2160, which requires the Department of Insurance (DOI) and the Department of Health and Family Services (HFS) to develop simple, uniform authorization forms for prescription drugs, which providers and insurers must use. There are currently numerous unique authorization forms necessary for every specific insurer; Halpin’s new law combines those forms into one for commercial insurers and one for managed care organizations. The bill received bipartisan support and is now law.

“I’ve been working hard build a stronger Illinois because we can do better than the health care system we have now,” Halpin said. “Many Illinoisans need reliable medications to live healthy, productive lives. If the insurance companies keep bogging down health care providers with pointless paperwork, those lives will be unfairly disrupted.”