Medical society reacts to likely license fee increase

The Illinois State Medical Society has deemed as “bittersweet” the increase in doctors’ license fees that the General Assembly has approved.

The Illinois House took the last step to hike up physicians’ licenses fees Thursday when lawmakers voted to send the measure authorizing the raises to Gov. Pat Quinn for final approval.

A three-year license would cost $700 through June 2018 under this proposal. The price would then drop to $500.

The medical society says the raise is not what doctors preferred but acknowledges it’s “very good news” for the state’s office that licenses and investigates doctors.

The fee increase would repay a $6.6 million loan that the medical watchdog office will use to rehire the staffers it laid off in January because of financial woes.