SPRINGFIELD, ILL (KMOX) -- A new bill introduced in Illinois could force unvaccinated hospital patients to foot the entire bill.
State Democratic Representative Jonathan Carroll sponsored the legislation, HB 4259, and introduced it on Monday.
Representative Carroll says the goal is to get more people vaccinated and this legislation will encourage people to do so.
“The vaccine is proven to be the one thing that is stopping the severity of COVID-19, and we are seeing more variants popping up,” Carroll explained on WCIA-TV. “The experts are telling us, ‘This is now becoming a disease of the unvaccinated.’ The people that are choosing to get vaccinated are not the ones that are clogging up the healthcare system, it’s the ones that aren’t,”
The new bill would make unvaccinated people pay for their own healthcare costs out-of-pocket if they were treated or hospitalized for COVID-19.
“a person who is eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and chooses not to be vaccinated shall pay for health care expenses out-of-pocket if the person becomes hospitalized because of COVID-19 symptoms," the bill states.
With an overwhelming Democratic majority in both the Illinois House and Senate and a Democratic Governor, the bill could indeed become law if all majority members vote in favor for the bill.
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