* As subscribers have known for well over a week, the governor isn’t having much luck convincing Democratic leaders to go along with this health insurance plan…
Two hundred million dollars in federal funding is available to help provide health insurance for uninsured Illinois residents. But before the state can tap into those funds lawmakers must first pass reform legislation. Governor Pat Quinn called on lawmakers to do that before they adjourn.
The pending bill would provide a new coverage for uninsured people with pre-existing conditions. The legislation would also create a health insurance bill of rights, which calls for guaranteed coverage for children with pre-existing conditions, guaranteed access to OBGYN services for women and it would require insurance companies to cover free wellness an prevention benefits.
The worry, as always, is what a vote for this could do to targeted Democrats in conservative districts in a bad Democratic year. There’s little chance of finding GOP support, so the Dems would have to go it alone, and they are not willing.
From a Quinn press release…
The first bill allows the Illinois Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan to form an expanded high-risk pool with approximately $200 million in federal funds that will be made available this summer. The high-risk pool will provide affordable coverage for uninsured persons with pre-existing conditions and is required under the federal health insurance reforms.
The second bill creates the Health Insurance Consumer’s Bill of Rights. That bill will:
* Guarantee coverage for children with pre-existing conditions;
* Guarantee residents the ability to have health insurance rescissions reviewed by the state – the same protection available now for home and automotive insurance policyholders;
* Guarantee women’s access to obstetrical and gynecological care;
* Ensure that all dependents under the age of 26 are eligible to remain covered under a parent’s plan;
* Require insurance companies to cover wellness and prevention benefits such as immunizations and screenings at no cost to the policyholder;
* Require health insurers to publicly disclose important information about premiums, health care costs, enrollment and claims information.
Even liberals like Rep. Greg Harris aren’t convinced…
Harris said that even though there would be some support for the idea of health insurance reform, there doesn’t appear to be any room for it on the legislative agenda.
“We’ve got a couple days left of the scheduled session in which we have to pass a state budget, deal with a $13 billion revenue shortfall, relieve [home] owners of undue burdens in the county of Cook, reform McCormick Place so that it can continue to bring billions of dollars of revenue to the state, possibly deal with school vouchers, and a couple of other small odds and ends. So I don’t know what the timing of this is going to be.”
* Speaking of last-minute snafus, the cigarette tax hike is short in the House…
“Last I looked, we were a handful of votes short,” said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago.
Lawmakers representing border districts say higher tobacco taxes would push local citizens to neighboring states to purchase cheaper smokes.
“Some people from Illinois go over there already,” said state Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg. “If you do another cigarette tax increase, they will definitely go over there.”
Phelps’ district borders Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri, all of which have a cigarette tax rate under $1. With a $1 cigarette tax increase, Illinois’ rate would be $1.98.
Illinois would also be among the top 15 states in the nation for highest cigarette tax rate. Iowa has a rate of $1.36, for instance, which borders state Rep. Pat Verschoore’s district.
People sometimes forget how long our borders are. There are a lot of people who live close to another state here. That’s one reason why tax hikes are difficult to pass, particularly stuff like this. Send ‘em to Indiana for their cigarettes, and they may end up buying groceries and gas there as well, or even more.
An income tax amnesty bill passed unanimously this morning in the House Executive Committee, but the pension bond bill received only Democratic votes in committee…
[GOP State Sen. Dave Syverson] predicts that the governor will need to borrow from $5 billion to $6 billion in addition to skipping the scheduled $3.7 billion pension payment. “It’s being called a pension holiday, but in reality it’s a pension raid,” Syverson said. Illinois’ long-term pension liability is $85 billion, worse than any other state.
Syverson said Quinn just isn’t serious about economizing, noting that “while he proposes $50 million in cuts to mental health programs, the Department of Mental Health budget features $55 million in raises for department employees, and 1,000 employees are getting over 10 percent raises.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers are preparing to stave off 465 State Police layoffs. Tuesday, the House passed a Senate bill raising certain court fees to come up with about $22 million to keep the cops on the force.
* This isn’t guaranteed to pass, either…
Suburban lawmakers questioned the motivation behind Gov. Pat Quinn’s last-ditch effort to revive a soon-to-expire property tax break for Cook County homeowners even as they embraced keeping the program in place.
“Is there some political motivation to it? Probably,” said state Sen. Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican. “Otherwise, I think we would have maybe seen it a little earlier.”
Quinn called for extending a tax exemption worth up to $20,000 for homeowners. His Sunday announcement came as lawmakers prepared to head back to the Capitol to finish up their final week of session. Extending the exemption wasn’t part of Quinn’s budget plan and has no effect on the state’s bottom line.
But with a $13 billion deficit likely to go unresolved, the state’s budget picture getting worse seemingly by the day, and plenty of voter disdain for proposed tax increases, lawmakers and Quinn are eager to embrace popular programs as they prepare for campaign season.
Downstate is the problem there, as always. I don’t think they have the votes right now. We’ll see.
* This may have legs, however…
Free rides for senior citizens on buses and trains would be scaled back significantly and transit systems throughout Illinois would net millions dollars under a new plan approved with bipartisan support in a Senate panel today. […]
“Today, we’re going to correct the Blagojevich mistake,” declared Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago. Sandoval forged the bill with a key co-sponsor, Sen. Rickey Hendon, D-Chicago, who long has fought to keep the free rides for all seniors in place. After beating back prior efforts to ditch the program, Hendon embraced this new proposal because it eliminated only a portion of the free rides. [Emphasis added to show why this has legs.]
* The Tribune once again insists that legislators must change current pension plans and finds a previously unreported nugget…
We’ve written twice recently on the legality of reducing pension benefits that current state employees earn going forward. Legislative leaders who pretend that isn’t possible had better hustle up their own remedy, and fast: Joshua Rauh, a public finance expert at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School, calculates that Illinois’ pension plans could run out of money as early as … 2018.
You can see that analysis by clicking here. I’m not sure yet if it’s totally accurate, but it’s definitely scary whatever the case.
* Related and a roundup…
* Developers up ante in Illinois project: Developers who want to put a tax-backed destination and retail development in Marion are sweetening the pot with an offer of money for area schools, in hopes of avoiding the kind of opposition that drove them out of Glen Carbon.
* Rep. Kosel on vouchers: ‘I can’t do it’
* Police, fire pensions in play
* Ralph Martire: Illinois needs a tax hike, no matter how you spin it
* Quinn Heads Back to Springfield, Still No Budget Agreement
* Take the slow lane on casinos at racetracks
* Quit diluting access to info; veto HB 5154
* Our View: Lawmakers continue to neglect the least among us
* Our View: Let’s shame lawmakers into addressing state budget mess
* Sell Naming Rights For McCormick Place, Navy Pier?
* U. Of I. Trustees No-Shows At State Senate Hearing
* Quinn gets legislation to shutter troubled suburban schools office
* House votes to abolish Flowers’ job
* Now it’s up to Quinn: The hard work, after all, was done by some dedicated lawmakers and school officials who believed the time had come to abolish the disgraced and useless Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education - then went out and made it happen.
* Lawmakers shoot down measure to classify tire burning as renewable energy
* Burning tires almost green in Illinois
* Free rides compromise moves forward
* Protecting teens from cyberbullying
* Fee bill would spare State Police cuts
- lake county democrat - Wednesday, May 5, 10 @ 10:31 am:
The Trib article about Mike Madigan and Tom Ryan is notable for taking the U of I clout list scandal to a new low (as far as memory serves). Ryan steals $100,000 from a school, but steers bucks to Madigan. Unless he was indicted and had a full trial all in 2005, Madigan uses his clout on behalf of a family member post-indictment. Much as the media pundits don’t want to admit it, Madigan is as bad a public official as Blago, he’s just much smarter.
- George - Wednesday, May 5, 10 @ 10:34 am:
Yeah, I don’t see anyone losing an election by standing up for these things:
But if Madigan wants his members to just go hide their heads in the sand like the past few years, he very well deserves the minority.
- western illinois - Wednesday, May 5, 10 @ 10:43 am:
April 25 NYT had this same John Rauh and a similar claim and suprise John Rauh is conncected to this civic federation whci is obsessed with getting rid of the state pension sytem
Who Is this civic federation and why are they so obsessed with this?
- jonbtuba - Wednesday, May 5, 10 @ 10:44 am:
Pass health reform, get $200 million. You’d think legislators would be able to handle doing a common Monopoly game action, but apparently election year posturing by the GOP is getting in the way of pragmatic change.
- George - Wednesday, May 5, 10 @ 10:48 am:
The Sandoval-Hendon Free Rides bill would force the Department of Aging to increase its staff by hundreds in order to be able to perform income verification for hundreds of thousands of new seniors each year.
Seniors making between the current Circuit Breaker income limits and the new, higher Free Rides income limits will have to:
- apply to the State Circuit Breaker office each February
- wait a couple months for their application to be approved
- wait for that approval to be sent to their local transit agency
- and then go do a new application with the transit agency to get their photo ID card.
They won’t get their free ride card until June for benefits that start in January.
Either do away with the free rides completely, or keep it. This income limit stupidity will probably end up costing more in bureaucracy than they will save in reduced rides.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, May 5, 10 @ 10:54 am:
For $200 million, that Consumer Bill of Rights seems pretty moderate. Are there really votes against covering kids with pre-existing conditions?
Sure beats ComEds deal.
- justfedup - Wednesday, May 5, 10 @ 10:56 am:
Just confused — isn’t most of the stuff in that Health Insurance Bill of Rights now federal law under the health care reform legislation?
- rudy - Wednesday, May 5, 10 @ 2:00 pm:
Didn’t they just get back from a spring break?
Spring breaks are for children–created to help schoolchildren with short attention spans freshen up, so they can finish their jobs.
Most adults have greater capacity, and learn to defer their gratification, to build or repair their enterprises.
So they are leaving early because…..they need to run home and tell their stories of accomplishment to their constituents, in May, when the election is fully 6 months away and their constituents are busy working or seeking work.
There is at least one true Democrat among them–Pat Quinn. He stands for Democratic principles. He prescribes the revenue increase that Jim Edgar and all financial experts agree is necessary. He pushes to implement the health care reform now available, thanks to the enabling legislation of the true Democrats in Congress and the White House. He pushes for the property tax relief that he knows will otherwise expire later this year in the City of Chicago.
Now that spring break is over, there is plenty of time to go back to work, refreshed, to address the pressing issues of the State. If the Governor could legislate, Pat Quinn would do what is necessary. For now, he shows admirable restraint in not calling his own party members out.
In the General Assembly which used to be populated by true Democrats, we now have a bunch of DINOs, anxious to go home. There is one autocrat and his band of waterbugs, scurrying out of town, as if surprised by a flashlight, so they can start their summer break early and spend the next 6 months creatively mislabeling themselves.
- steve schnorf - Wednesday, May 5, 10 @ 2:12 pm:
A big key to the professor’s analysis of when the pension systems might run out of money is his assumption of what future state contributions will be, and it appears to me he uses a number that is what we refer to as “normal” cost, the amount necessary to fund new benefits earned in the current year. That number is probably a little less than $1.5B here in Illinois. If I’m correct his analysis has no relationship to reality for our state funds. We have pension huge problems, just not the one he is talking about.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, May 5, 10 @ 3:20 pm:
Slightly related to free rides for seniors, what the heck is going on at Metra? Pagano agreed not to leave town? That’s like out of Dragnet. He’s not charged with anything, where was he going to go? And now Durbin is apparently chiming in.
- Ghost - Wednesday, May 5, 10 @ 4:13 pm:
so in place of new taxes, which are easy to calcualte and police, we are oing to add increased fees to everything, and rely on a mutlitude of collections syetsms such as sales tax, courts collections of fines etc to try and capture them all, while providing many more opportunities to conceal or hide part money owed or collected for the State in all these various purchases, fess etc.
tax would be more straightforward and simpler to police.