By Illinois Review
Illinois House Republican Minority Leader Tony McCombie is taking heat for her controversial vote in favor of a ‘woke’ bill in 2023 which went into effect on January 1, 2025, that mandates insurance coverage for certain exams – specifically, “cervical” exams for males and “prostate” exams for females – but leading up too, and after voting in favor of this bill, McCombie received an influx of campaign donations from a progressive hospital association that’s been advocating for improved care for transgender and non-binary patients.
The Illinois Health and Hospital Association, which has offices in Springfield, Chicago and Naperville, advocates on behalf of hospitals, patients and communities to “develop sound healthcare public policy solutions that will broaden healthcare access, make healthcare more affordable and improve the quality of care to all Illinoisans.” The association also focuses on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives – including improving patient care for transgender and non-binary individuals.
On September 11, 2023, months after HB2350 was approved by Gov. JB Pritzker, the hospital group hosted a gathering titled, “Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Data Collection & Legal X Webinar,” where they discussed topics such as pronouns, how to appropriately address transgender and non-binary patients and sex assigned at birth versus gender identity. The webinar also discussed placing an “X” under “sex” if someone doesn’t identify as either male or female.
On December 16, 2022, McCombie’s campaign received a $5,000 donation from the Illinois Health and Hospital Association PAC. A few months later, on February 14, 2023, Democratic State Rep. Kelly Cassidy would file House Bill 2350, which sought to amend the Illinois Insurance Code and require coverage to include an “annual cervical smear or Pap smear test for all (rather than female) insureds.” The legislation also required coverage to include an “annual prostate cancer screening for insureds (rather than male insureds) upon the recommendation of a physician licensed to practice medicine…”
On March 23, 2023, the legislation passed the Illinois House of Representatives 78-32, with McCombie, Deputy Republican House Leader Norine Hammond and House Republican Conference Chairman Jeff Keicher, siding with their Democratic colleagues and voting to support the bill. The bill would pass the Illinois Senate on May 4, 2023 by a vote of 37-17 – and on June 9, 2023, Gov. JB Pritzker approved it with an effective date set for January 1, 2025.
On October 2, 2023, just months after the governor approved the bill, McCombie received another donation from the Illinois Health and Hospital Association PAC – this time for $20,000. A few months later, on December 14, 2023, McCombie would receive yet another check for $12,500. And on June 28, 2024, the House GOP leader would receive another $10,000 campaign donation – totaling $47,500 from the ‘woke’ Illinois-based hospital association.
Since the pandemic in 2020, McCombie has accepted campaign donations from the National Education Association – an organization whose state association in Illinois endorsed Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker for governor and Democrat Kwame Raoul for attorney general in 2022; promoted mandates during the pandemic, and helped write the controversial sex education standards that allow teachers to instruct children about gender identity, sexual orientation, hormone blockers and gender expression.
The curriculum has angered parents in Illinois and across the country – and that anger is justified. More than 500 school districts in Illinois have exercised their ability to “opt-out,” declining to teach these outrageous sex education standards to children in their classrooms.
To date, McCombie has received $119,900 in donations from the NEA’s political action committee since 2020.
In bizarre social media posts since Sunday evening, McCombie continues to reiterate that only a female can get a pap smear, yet she refused to explain why she voted for a bill that allows non-females to get the exam. At one point, McCombie even suggested that the law should be changed back to “only females” can get a pap smear – but too little, too late. The GOP leader has over 100 comments on her Facebook page, and an overwhelming majority of them are negative.
This publication continues to wait and see if state GOP officials, including national committeemen, comment on this issue that only seems to be getting worse for the Republican leader.
