A bill that would ban anesthesia time limits in the state of Illinois has unanimously passed another hurdle, according to an April 30 report from WAND.
The bill was proposed in January by Republican Illinois state Rep. Bill Hauter, MD, in response to a policy floated by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield in November 2024 that would have placed time limits on procedures using anesthesia in Missouri, New York and Connecticut. Following blowback from patients, physicians and industry groups, Anthem eventually withdrew the proposal.
Several other states are also taking legislative action to ban such time limits altogether, including Washington, Missouri and New Jersey.
In February, the Illinois bill, which would make it illegal for insurance companies to place a time limit on anesthesia payment coverage no matter how long a procedure lasts, passed out of the state insurance committee unanimously.
Now, the bill has passed unanimously out of the Illinois Senate insurance committee. It will head to the House floor in coming weeks, according to the report.
“It’s in very little control of the patient, very little control of the anesthesiologists and even the surgeon has no control of length of surgery,” Dr. Hauter told WAND. “This is an outrageous policy and HB1141 makes sure this doesn’t happen in Illinois.”
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