Illinois Legislature Approves Medical Marijuana!

Thank you advocates and patients!

Protestants for the Common Good has been advocating for legislation to legalize medical marijuana in Illinois for years. We are almost there!  The Illinois General Assembly recently passed HB 1, the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program, which creates a four-year pilot program during which individuals with serious diseases would be able to buy limited amounts of medical marijuana from one of 60 state-licensed dispensaries   

HB 1 passed the Illinois Senate by a 35-21 vote on May 17, 2013.  The House previously passed HB 1 on April 17, 2013 by a 61-57 vote.  

Please join us in thanking the legislators who supported this legislation to show mercy and compassion to people suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, HIV, spinal disease, ALS and other terrible ailments.  Find out how your Senator and Representative voted.

Thank you to Chief Senate Sponsor William Haine and Chief House Sponsor Lou Lang!

Read Rev. Alexander Sharp’s Op-Ed in the Chicago Sun-Times and Shouts of Joy! article urging the Illinois Senate to pass this bill.  You can also watch video of the recent Senate floor debate and the House floor debate.

The fate of this legislation now rests in the hands of Democratic Governor Pat Quinn.  Gov. Quinn is reviewing the bill and remains “open-minded.”  Read recent editorial blogs from the Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post and Chicago Magazine.

HB 1 has the support of Illinois Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon, in addition to over 260 doctors in Illinois, religious leaders, and medical organizations, as well as a majority of Illinois voters according to recent polling.

Patients have waited far too long in Illinois.  We urge Gov. Quinn to show compassion and mercy for those suffering from debilitating pain and swiftly sign HB 1 into law.

Tell Gov. Quinn: Record High Coal Exports at Huge Costs

By Heartland Coalfield Alliance

Illinois’ abundant high-sulphur coal saw record demand oversees last year, according to according to a new report commissioned by the Illinois Office of Coal Development that was released Wednesday, May 2, 2013.

Click to read report

The study, prepared by Energy Ventures Analysis Inc., found that 13 million tons of Illinois coal was exported in 2012.  That’s a fivefold increase from the 2.5 million tons shipped out of the U.S. in 2010.

Please take a moment to remind Governor Quinn this increase in coal exports comes at a huge expense to Illinois communities:

• New surface and underground mines threaten the state’s agricultural communities by destroying and subsiding prime farmland.

• Coal mines pollute our rivers and streams with impunity, racking up hundreds of pollution violations while our state agencies rubber stamp new permits.

• “Jobless” coal boom – Illinois exported 5 times as much coal in 2012 as in 2010, but mining jobs only increased by 14% (~3,500 to 4,000 miners) – the fact remains, coal mining is an insignificant part of the state’s economy, so why is DCEO bending over backwards to please the industry?

• Digging coal is digging Illinois even deeper into debt as the coal industry raids our mineral wealth without sending so much as a cent back to the state in severance or sales taxes, which all neighboring coal producing states collect.

Click for more and contact information for Governor Quinn.

Protect Illinois communities: Take action now!

PCG is a member of the Heartland Coalfield Alliance, which works to reduce impacts from dirty coal mining, coal burning and coal waste disposal while promoting cleaner, more sustainable and affordable energy solutions for the Illinois Coal Basin.  

Testimony to Improve Charity Care Rules

On April 17, 2013, Laura Dean F. Friedrich, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Protestants for the Common Good, a unit of the Community Renewal Society, testified at the public hearing on the Proposed Rules for Hospital Financial Assistance under the Fair Patient Billing Act to the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Illinois on April 17, 2013.  Her testimony is below. Read Making Rules, Playing Fair for more information about PCG's and the Fair Care Coalition's involvement in the rule-making process. Final rules will be issued in June 2013.

Protestants for the Common Good appreciates this opportunity to comment on the Proposed Rules for Hospital Financial Assistance under the Fair Patient Billing Act.  We commend the Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, and her staff for their diligent work on this important matter for the people of Illinois.

We affirm the clear definition of “Hospital Financial Assistance” which specifies that bad debt and uncollectible charges cannot be recorded as financial assistance, and we agree with the criteria established for presumptive eligibility. We also support the clear reporting requirements for hospitals, the opening language stating that a Social Security is not required to qualify for free or discounted care, and the best-practice language requirement of having the application in every primary language of at least 5% of patients served by the hospital. These provisions will help reduce barriers to free and discounted care for low-income, un-insured or under-insured individuals and, at the same time, ensure that hospitals meet their responsibility to provide charity care.

We at Protestants for the Common Good also believe that the Proposed Rules can be improved in the following ways:

Specify the Presumptive Eligibility Process.  While the criteria for presumptive eligibility are appropriate, the rules do not clearly establish a process or timeline for determining presumptive eligibility. The rules should include language that requires that patients be asked about the presumptive eligibility criteria before being discharged from the hospital and that decisions determining presumptive eligibility be made before the patient is billed.

Simplify the application.  The application proposed in the rules is long and burdensome to patients needing free or reduced hospital care.  The application should ask only the minimum questions necessary to determine income eligibility for charity care and omit those questions more appropriately related to Medicaid eligibility.  Detailed information about employers of the applicant and his/her family members and personal expenses, among other items, should not be required.

Include an affidavit for income verification.  We support the language in the rules that allows for “other documentation provided by the patient” to verify family income, but it is unclear how patients who have no income or cash-only income should report that information.  We suggest that the rules indicate that patients in this situation can sign a simple statement saying that they have no income or receive cash from their employers to verify that they do not have the customary documentation for their incomes.

Allow only one application.  Additional language should be added to the rules indicating that a hospital may not create an additional application or add a form, e.g., a cover sheet with a list of required documents for multiple programs, to the eligibility/application process.

Revise the application certification.  The certification paragraph at the end of the application is overwhelming and intimidating.  A simple statement to the effect that the patient certifies that the information contained in the application is “true and complete to the best of my ability” should suffice.  Some hospitals are already using a short and concise statement on their applications.  We recommend that practice be applied to the universal application for the charity care process.

Protestants for the Common Good appreciates this opportunity to comment on the Proposed Rules for Hospital Financial Assistance, and we thank the Attorney General for her consideration of our recommendations.

Hundreds Pray and "Die-In" at Capitol to Stop Gun Violence

CLERGY, YOUTH, AND PEOPLE OF FAITH CALL FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO ACT TO STOP ILLEGAL GUN TRAFFICKING

SPRINGFIELD – Today, 500 clergy, people of faith, and youth converged on the State Capitol to call on the Illinois General Assembly to enact common sense gun legislation to stop illegal gun trafficking and decrease gun deaths. At the end of the day, the group overflowed the Capitol Rotunda in a “die-in.” Community Renewal Society Activists, wearing the names of the more than 400 people killed by gun violence in Chicago last year, lay down on the floor of the Capitol. The activists hummed “Amazing Grace” as the names of the victims were read aloud by youth from the Chicago area.

“We are here to bring the voices of those who can no longer speak because of gun violence to the leaders of our state,” said Rev. Eddie Knox, pastor of Pullman Presbyterian Church on the South side of Chicago. “Gun violence is destroying our communities. We are here to act, with our prayers, our voices, and our bodies to call on the General Assembly to act to stop these deaths.”

The group was calling for Illinois to enact three new anti-gun trafficking requirements: creating a registration or a title for a gun, similar to the title for a car; mandating universal background checks for all gun purchases; and mandatory reporting of lost and stolen guns. They argue that these pieces would do the most the stop the flow of illegal handguns, which are responsible for the majority of gun crimes and gun deaths each year.

Youth from across the state played a crucial part in the rally, offering testimony and reading the names of the gun victims. Young people are disproportionately victimized by gun violence. The average age of a person killed by a gun in Chicago last year was only 26.

“We live every day in fear for our lives,” said Chari Stevens, a high school student from Covenant United Church of Christ in South Holland. “Every one of us has lost friends or family to this senseless gun violence. We need our elected officials to act to protect all our youth.”

The group spent the day asking members of the General Assembly to sign onto a letter declaring their support for these three pieces of regulations. The bill that the House has been debating for months currently has been amended to include gun registration and reporting of lost and stolen guns, but not universal background checks. It is not clear where these initiatives stand in the Senate. The activists were joined by members of the General Assembly.

“This is an issue that affects all of Illinois,” said Rev. Alan Taylor, pastor of Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Oak Park. “Every gun death affects us all, and so we are calling on all our state representatives to act. Every day we delay, we are letting another person die.”

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!

Rev. Dr. Norval Brown is the pastor of the Thornton United Methodist Church in Thornton, IL and the Grace United Protestant Church in Park Forest, IL.

Yes, we read in the newspaper about the decisions the poor have to make: Do we pay the rent?  Do we buy groceries?  How about shoes and clothes for the children?  These and other questions are pointed out as the plight of the poor, but we pay no heed to them because we are not exposed to the harsh reality in which our brothers and sisters live.

Take a look at the map below for just a moment.  It converts the reality of their lives and their decisions into something we can easily understand - numbers!  The high number of hours that an individual making minimum wage has to work simply to afford a two-bedroom unit - a space for mother and father and children - is outrageous and cries out for social change.  The average number of hours a minimum wage worker in Illinois must work to afford a 2-bedroom unit at Fair Market Rent (30% of income) is 81 hours.  That's two weeks just to pay the rent.

Raising the minimum wage so that it at least approaches a living wage is a first step.  A look at the numbers tells it all.

Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition | Out of Reach 2012

For more information, check out Out of Reach 2012 by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.