By Haley Kosik/WJEZ News
A couple of bills await action by Governor Bruce Rauner addressing health care.
The first bill would require doctors to provide a hepatitis C screening for patients who are baby boomers born between 1945 to 1965. Hepatitis C is a liver disease whose symptoms don’t appear until the patient is very sick. State Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) said the disease often goes unnoticed and is deadly. State Sen. John Mulroe (D-Chicago) said those who are diagnosed with the disease can now be treated. Gabel said the new treatment is over 90 percent effective with cure rates and has no side-effect. She said it is very different than past treatments for the disease.
The second bill on Rauner’s desk is a measure allowing families to install a camera in a nursing home to keep an eye on their loved one. The family would have to pay for it, and it could operate only with the consent of all the patients in the room. This is seen as a way to assure nursing home patients get proper care, or to provide evidence if abuse is suspected.
