Illinois bill could provide taxi, rideshare vouchers for sexual assault survivor healthcare

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — A new bill in Springfield could allow sexual assault survivors to use vouchers to pay for taxis or rideshare services like Uber and Lyft. Sponsors and advocates believe this is another way to help people going through trauma.

The state currently requires treatment hospitals to provide vouchers to pay for ambulance, forensic, lab, and follow-up healthcare services for survivors. This plan would allow people to use the voucher to help get transportation to and from hospitals or other treatment centers.

"It's a voucher that they can use I think for 90 to 180 days afterwards at some point if they need follow-up care," said Sen. Suzy Glowiak Hilton (D-Western Springs). "The voucher also pays for things from pharmacies as well. There's a cap on that voucher."

Although, some Republicans are concerned about the cost for survivors to use rideshare services. The Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services caps the current vouchers at $1,000 per service.

"That voucher is issued through a system called MEDI, which the department operates," said HFS Legislative Liaison Daniel Mendez. "The hospital is able to get that voucher through the MEDI system, and that voucher follows that patient."

Senate Republicans said this is a well-intended bill, but they want to have more concrete answers on how long people could use the rideshare voucher and how many people could benefit from it.

"Maybe we hold this until we can answer some basic questions and then we hear this again as soon as possible," said Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville). "I would be wildly uncomfortable voting for something not knowing what the answers to some of these very basic questions are."

The Senate Health & Human Services Committee could vote on the legislation in the coming weeks.