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I’m putting this at the top today because it’s so late and I’m trying to generate a few more comments on these posts. You should consider “Morning Shorts” to be an open thread to discuss whatever Illinois political topics you wish, not just limited to the stories listed.
· Neil Flynn has a new book coming out soon.
· No FutureGen for Southern Illinois, but other state sites still on list.
· Study: Uninsured children often Latino
· Former Gov. Edgar Weighs In On Ryan Verdict
· Animal Farm:
Obama said he’s spoken with political protégé Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic state treasurer candidate, about controversial loans to a man with ties to organized crime. Obama said he told Giannoulias within the past week to review the loans at his family’s Broadway Bank and to hold a news conference to explain the situation in great detail. Obama endorsed Giannoulias, an early financial supporter of his 2004 Democratic U.S. Senate bid, in the treasurer primary March 21 and appeared in ads for him. The issue is a sensitive one for Obama, who is the Senate Democrats’ point person on the pending ethics reforms.
· Editorial: A tale of two airports
· Brothers to assist Lane Evans
· Politicians see Ryan’s conviction as a call for change
· Marin: Andrea Lyon is a true believer
· Poshard: ‘A long time before state can shed’ image
· Hispanics press Daley for clerk job
· Illinois Providers Criticize State For Launching All Kids Program Without Addressing Unpaid Medicaid Claims
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 19, 06 @ 8:37 am
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Previous Post: Question of the day
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Scene One at St. Politics Grade School.
Sister Obama is holding a ruler and says “Mr. Giannoulias, please put your hand on the desk.”
(censored)
Mr. Giannoulias wenches and says, “Thank you, Sister”
The End.
Comment by zatoichi Wednesday, Apr 19, 06 @ 8:57 am
Wenches?
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Apr 19, 06 @ 8:59 am
Although many in DHFS knew this was a problem, the unpaid Medicaid backlog of bills and the corresponding deterrent to healthcare access were never seriously considered by the administration when the preliminary work was done on AllKids. Last November, the administration didn’t want DHFS to talk about the fact that KidCare children were already then experiencing access to care problems due to low and slow reimbursement. Keep in mind, AllKids is simply purchased Medicaid - same rates and same pay cycles for non-physician providers.
This is one reason why the AllKids program, for all it’s noble intentions, should have have had a thorough evaluation in the Spring legislative session. While I fully support the idea of universal coverage for kids, attaching it to Medicaid and KidCare was an extremely ill-conceived means to achieving it.
Unfortunately, AllKids will almost certainly illustrate again that the actual operation of government services is not a priority for this administration.
Comment by Illinois Deserves Better Wednesday, Apr 19, 06 @ 9:29 am
I’d bet the farm that the Tribune doesn’t even know what the Will County Development District actually is, and yet they are pontificating on it. A couple weeks ago, they wrote that it is a bill for governance of the airport (it is not). Are they on Jesse Jackson Jr.’s payroll? Do they have any IDEA what they are writing about before they actually write it? They say it isn’t innovative — that must be why people who read the plan commonly agree that it is brilliant, and even University Park (a Jackson supporter) has said so.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 19, 06 @ 11:13 am
From the data presented, it appears that uninsured kids are primarily Hispanic kids and that Allkids is a rather expensive program whose early beneficiaries will primarily be Hispanics. The other uninsured percentages are sufficiently small that one wonders if the parents have simply made a personal choice to spend available money on something else and pay cash for their kids’ care. It’s not illegal in Illinois (yet). And many of the currently uninsured are probably eligible for Kid Care already.
One also wonders how many of the uninsured Hispanics are undocumented. Again, insuring undocumented kids and their American born siblings is a choice taxpayers can reasonably make, but did they know they were making it in this case? Did it have to be so expensive?
Sounds like Blagojevich’s pursuit of the Hispanic vote will result in poorer system for us all. The wealthy and upper middle class will continue to get top notch care with high quality health insurance that they can easily pay for or that their employers are eager to pay for them.
Or they will simply pay for their own premiums with their high incomes.
As increasing numbers of employers raise rates on employee family health insurance with the knowledge of Allkids as the backup, the rest of the population will be forced into some form of All Kids/Medicaid because that’s all that will be practically available to the not-rich.
And the Department of Health and Family Services will grow into a huge political patronage bureaucracy, of course.
Comment by Cassandra Wednesday, Apr 19, 06 @ 11:52 am
Cassandra,
Have you ever looked at the cost of healthcare for children? It’s almost nothing compared to the cost of the elderly and disabled. Children really are pretty cheap to cover, a calculated move to get big political payoff for a relatively small investment.
The problem with AllKids is that it’s simply an extension of Medicaid, a program that the Governor and Democratic General Assembly has underfunded by about $800 million over the last three years. Now we have about 70% of the medical providers who have to wait 4-5 months after submitting claims before they get paid. That’s absurd!
Also, the state-worker bashing really does get tiresome. DHFS operates now with about 75% of the staff they had three years ago and many of those people devote evenings and weekends to get their work done.
Comment by Illinois Deserves Better Wednesday, Apr 19, 06 @ 2:05 pm
Not according to this Republican:
The conviction of former Gov. George Ryan creates an additional hurdle for the gubernatorial campaign of Judy Baar Topinka, JoAnn Osmond, outgoing chairman of the Lake County Republican Federation, said Tuesday.
“They were so close,” said Osmond, who is also a state representative from Antioch, “as was anybody who worked with George.”
Judy is going to have a tough time selling the, we barely knew each other, story.
Comment by B Hicks Wednesday, Apr 19, 06 @ 2:41 pm
Hmm, the state balancing the budget on the backs of medical providers. Then, there’s the state balancing the budget out of state employee’s purses. Of course, it’s no problem applying for benefits, right? Just a simple phone call or filling out a form. But, then there’s no one to determine eligibility, no one to handle the case, no one to issue a timely notice of decision, process a change or answer a question. Then, there’s the side issues of availability of other programs. Of course, some of these folks applying for AllKids will want to apply for Food Stamp benefits. And, when they lose their jobs, they’ll want to apply for TANF. But, of course, it’s just a simple phone call or filling out a form. : )
Comment by Emily Booth Wednesday, Apr 19, 06 @ 6:17 pm
Since Neil was mentioned and with all the dissapointment in our state politics, my thought is if this state had more folks like Neil Flynn and Glenn Poshard in high office we all would be better off. I realize Neal has not run for an office but his integrity, intelligence, and competence are almost unmatched. And with all the comments about Governor Ryans conviction I have yet to see better, more thought out, compassionate, and down to earth comments than Glenn Poshards.
Politics aside on abortion and guns, this state truly lost something when Ryan beat Poshard.
Comment by aidanquinn Wednesday, Apr 19, 06 @ 10:14 pm
anon, tribune on jesse jr payroll…now thats funny.
Comment by Anon Wednesday, Apr 19, 06 @ 10:54 pm