SPRINGFIELD – Insurance coverage expanded for emergency neonatal intensive care on Jan. 1, thanks to State Senator Laura Fine.

“Newborns deserve immediate care in the first critical hours of life and parents deserve peace of mind to know the services are covered,” said Fine (D-Glenview). “This new law ensures no family is denied life-saving treatment for their child.”

Neonatal care for premature or critically ill newborns often requires specialized treatments that might not be covered by a patient’s health insurance network. Under Fine’s law, private insurers are required to cover emergency neonatal care, regardless of whether the provider is in or out of the patient’s network. This ensures families are not billed for greater out-of-pocket costs than they would have incurred with an in-network provider.

SPRINGFIELD – In order to protect community based foster care agencies from the increasing costs and the decreasing availability of liability insurance, State Senator Laura Fine passed legislation to analyze the current foster care liability insurance landscape in Illinois.

“Foster care and adoption services must maintain liability coverage to operate in the state,” said Fine (D-Glenview). “Without sustainable insurance options, these foster agencies are at risk of shutting down altogether.”

 Agencies are required to carry liability insurance to protect the 13,000 children in their care.  Many carriers are no longer offering this line of insurance, and only two carriers offer liability insurance for foster care providers in the state. This has resulted in higher costs and limited coverage.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Laura Fine has introduced Senate Bill 2712, comprehensive legislation to protect access to essential services and strengthen privacy when federal immigration enforcement occurs at schools, hospitals, or in local communities across Illinois.

“Making sure that people feel safe in our communities, schools, and hospitals is our responsibility as lawmakers in Illinois,” said Fine (D-Glenview). “This bill gives teachers, essential healthcare workers, and law enforcement the tools to do their jobs while keeping our neighborhoods safe from fear-based enforcement and federal overreach."

This legislation includes several key provisions:

SPRINGFIELD – To increase transparency and provide additional data on opioid overdose in Illinois, State Senator Laura Fine passed a law to enhance reporting standards.

“Opioid overdoses impact the lives of thousands of Illinoisans every year,” said Fine (D-Glenview). “Additional data and transparency is critical to implement future life-saving measures.”

Expanding on existing requirements for overdose reporting, Fine’s law ensures all municipalities report overdoses using the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program tool – a free web-based tool that works to provide the most up-to-date suspected overdose surveillance data to support public safety and health efforts. This law requires the Illinois Department of Public Health to work with stakeholders to utilize overdose data collected by EMTs to identify areas of need and bolster harm reduction efforts. It also strengthens patient protections to ensure ODMAP data is used to guide public health strategies, not for law enforcement purposes.