Reform Legislation Gets a Hearing ... Sort Of

After 17 months, legislation that would trim another 30% from the Illinois medical fee schedule and require a major contributing cause standard finally got a hearing Monday. But stakeholders said the sponsor of House Bill 4248, Republican Rep. Jim Durkin, wasn’t even notified in advance and could not attend the committee hearing because he was one of four legislators meeting with Gov. Bruce Rauner to help break a historic budget impasse. Steve Brown, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, said Tuesday that his boss was not interested in any compromises on workers’ com...