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A consumer advocacy group continued its push this week to drum up support for legislation to establish a state board to regulate the price of many prescription drugs in Illinois.
Citizen Action/Illinois, along with other groups, convened a town hall meeting in Rockford Tuesday – the fifth in a series of such meetings the group has held since last spring – to push for passage of House Bill 4472, which would establish a Health Care Availability and Access Board.
That five-member board, appointed by the governor, would have authority to set caps on the prices paid by both insurance plans and consumers for certain high-cost drugs.
“Right now, one in three Illinoisans, based on a poll that we commissioned earlier this year, are rationing their medication or skipping pills altogether, meaning that they’re splitting doses in half, or trying to make it stretch, not taking their medication as prescribed by their doctors, simply because they cannot afford it,” said the group’s director Anusha Thotakura.
Joining Thotakura Tuesday were Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, who represents the 17th Congressional District that includes Rockford, state Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, and Dr. Ram Krishnamoorthi, an internal medicine physician who practices in the Chicago area.
In 2022, as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress for the first time gave the Medicare program – the federal health care program for seniors – authority to negotiate prices it pays for certain high-cost drugs. Under HB 4472, those negotiated prices would become the upper payment limit for purchasers outside the Medicare program.
The bill was introduced at the beginning of the 2024 legislative session in January by Rep. Nabeela Syed, D-Palatine,. House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, is among its chief co-sponsors.
No action was taken on the bill during the spring session and it has not yet been assigned to a substantive committee, but it could come up for consideration during the fall veto session, which begins Nov. 12, or in the spring.
TikTok lawsuit
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has filed suit against the social media platform TikTok, alleging the app is harming children.
The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, claims TikTok violated Illinois’ Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, along with the Uniform Deceptive Business Practices Act. Raoul alleged TikTok uses features that are addictive and exploit young and vulnerable users by encouraging them to spend long periods of time on the platform.
“American children and teenagers are in the grip of a devastating mental health crisis,” Raoul said in a news release. “The addictive features on TikTok’s social media platform interfere with sleep and education, and contribute to depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia and thoughts of self-harm.”
The suit seeks both injunctive relief “to prevent future violations of the Consumer Fraud Act” and monetary damages, including $50,00 for each “unfair or deceptive act or practice.”
Raoul joined 13 other states in filing separate enforcement actions Tuesday against TikTok. He and other critics of the popular online social media platform have denounced its business model, as well as its impact on children.
Tuesday’s action follows a lawsuit Raoul’s office filed last year against Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta. Raoul’s office also joined a coalition of attorneys general last month to call for the U.S. Surgeon General to put a warning on all algorithm-driven social media platforms.
Pritzker in Japan
On the day first of a four-day mission trip to Japan, Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday announced a deal with medical diagnostic product-maker Sysmex America Inc., which is headquartered in north suburban Lincolnshire.
Pritzker’s office said Sysmex will invest $20.6 million in northeastern Illinois to create 110 more jobs and retain 550 others. The company employs scientists, engineers and health care professionals, and produces medical equipment that aids in diagnosing blood clotting disorders and other conditions.
Pritzker is joined on the Japan trip by about four dozen lawmakers, economic development officials, academics and businesspeople. Their goal is to promote Illinois’ “manufacturing and innovation” and strengthen business partnerships.
The delegation on Monday met with Japanese executives from the food sector and Pritzker met with leaders of the Japan External Trade Organization, specifically discussing opportunities in clean energy and quantum technology. The governor also delivered a keynote speech to over 100 Japan-based companies at an event hosted by JETRO.
On Tuesday, Pritzker led a quantum roundtable discussion at the University of Tokyo along with Senate President Don Harmon, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, and deputy governors Martin Torres and Andy Manar.
Quantum technology has been a major emphasis of the administration and lawmakers, who approved a tax incentives package earlier this year that’s aimed at making Illinois a hub for the nascent technology.
The Japan trip is slated to conclude on Thursday.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.