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* Report: Bulk of insurance premiums for health care…

A task force appointed by Gov. Pat Quinn wants a law forcing insurers to spend at least 80 cents of every of premium dollar on providing health care - or pay rebates to customers.

The task force is releasing its initial recommendations Thursday. It also recommends legislation giving state regulators the authority to approve or deny health insurance rate increases. […]

Illinois Department of Insurance director Michael McRaith says for-profit insurers in Illinois now spend as little as 50 cents of every premium dollar on health care.

* Sun-Times Editorial: Keep Taste of Chicago free

* IL gay rights groups launch civil union tracker

* Company chosen to manage Illinois Lottery waits on state Supreme Court: Rather than quickly ramping up its operations, the company chosen to manage the Illinois Lottery is waiting for the state’s highest court to signal if the potentially billion-dollar deal will stick.

* UI proposes closing Institute of Aviation

* Educational co-op lays off all its workers: It must wait and see about funding…

The executive committee of the Williamson County Early Childhood Cooperative approved resolutions Thursday authorizing dismissal of about 45 teachers and staff members at the end of the school year because of current nonexistent state funding.

The move is reminiscent of a year earlier. when the committee was forced to take the same action before state funding was allocated at the end of the legislative session to keep cooperative personnel and services intact.

* Farley: Springfield Visitors bureau had no choice but to cut staff: With personnel costs increasing and revenue flat, the head of the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau said Thursday he had no choice but to cut his staff by one-fourth.

* South Side soul food legend Army & Lou’s closes

* Will there be concerts on Northerly Island this summer?: It’s hard to see how, unless the city is once again about to hand the rights to book a temporary venue on this prime piece of real estate to the dreaded Death Star of the concert business, Ticketmaster/Live Nation, by side-stepping the bidding process…for a second time.

* Catholic hospital operators explore merger - Chicago-based Resurrection Health Care may combine with Mokena-based Provena Health

* GOP heads back to offices at Capitol after flood

* The Global Cities Index 2010

* Belleville independent candidates pledge to play fair

* More Clues About Business PAC’s Play In Council Races: Until recently, all the money raised by FBC PAC had come from a 501(c)(4) organization also called For A Better Chicago, meaning the donors were impossible to track. But in a February 1 filing with the SBOE, the FBC PAC showed a contribution of $10,000 from David Herro, an investment manager at Harris Associates, LP. Herro was a major player in the 2007 city council races, throwing significant cash at aldermanic candidates supportive of building Wal-Marts.

* Lots of bleepin’ laughs - The evil genius behind @MayorEmanuel — whoever it is — has Chicago guessing, everybody laughing

* Del Valle links rivals to convicted ex-Streets and San boss

* Judge sued twice over land deals

* Seven county workers suspended from scandal-plagued jobs program: Karin Norington-Reaves, director of the Cook County Board President’s Office of Employment Training — known as POET — suspended staffers on Monday and Tuesday, including a manager related to a former POET employee sent to prison for stealing more than $100,000 from the program.

* County Treasurer Sits At $23,000 Office Set: Pappas once ran her office from a beautiful desk and credenza in her private office. But they were replaced with custom-ordered furniture costing $23,034. The furniture was part of a much larger redecorating job overseen by high-end interior designer John P. Regas. He was paid an additional $27,000 for his interior design work throughout the treasurer’s office.

* Book details ex-Illinois governor’s gangster ties: One of the most amazing details writer Jim Ridings learned while researching his books is former Illinois governor Len Small’s connection to gangsters.

* CSO’s Muti hospitalized

* Media group owner found dead in home

* Longtime Statehouse lobbyist dies…

Longtime Statehouse lobbyist Harry “Bud” Kelley died Wednesday. He was 78.

Kelley was one of the best-known figures among Capitol lobbyists, serving 34 years as executive director of the Illinois Association of Tobacco and Candy Distributors.

A Hillsboro native, Kelley graduated from Millikin University in 1954 and then joined the U.S. Marine Corps as a second lieutenant. He later became a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

Kelley worked for his father’s food business until moving to Springfield in 1966 to be chief administrative assistant in the state Department of Business and Economic Development.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 5:44 am

Comments

“for-profit insurers in Illinois now spend as little as 50 cents of every premium dollar on health care.”

Wow — I knew their overhead/profit percentage was high but this even shocks me.

Comment by Lakefront Liberal Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 6:05 am
Thank God private industry is so efficient. I like the threat that ‘choice’ will suffer if you impose this profit cap on us. What they’re saying is that if you don’t allow us to continue to line our own pockets, and those of our stockholders at the expense of your health, we’ll take our marbles and leave.

Comment by PublicServant Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 6:57 am
The required minimum payments for healthcare are federally mandated as a result of the Healthcare Reform Law, so it isn’t simply an initiative of the Quinn Administration

Comment by Emanuel Collective Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 7:49 am
And when the smaller for profits go insolvent. Everyone else pays through the guarantee funds.

Comment by Mr. Ethics Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 9:29 am
So if my insurance rate is $200, the insurance payout = $100. An insurance company wants to to keep that $100 performance when the 80% payout is the target. Three years of 35% premium increases hits the mark. Guess what our company’s increases have been? What a shock.

Comment by zatoichi Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 9:45 am
wait…Chicago is #6 on the global cities list?!

You mean we’re more important than Sydney? Than Atlanta?! THAN BEIJING?!?!

I thought you couldn’t be a global city unless you hosted the Olympics and that cities which didn’t host the Olympics might as well just give up and labor on as obscure relics like Davenport.

Comment by jerry 101 Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 9:45 am
I got to learn at the elbow of Bud and Ward Johnson. Those two we inseperable in the day back in the late ’80s and early ’90s. they fought the fight of tabacco and were gentlemen in the business. Bud will be missed.

Comment by Todd Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 9:54 am
Its already apparent that most people have no clue how insurance works. Companies collect premiums and must keep a certain portion in reserve to cover claims.

The problem with this 80 percent mandate which Director McRaith has previously been unsuccessful in passing is that it does not take certain things into account. He is already granting waivers to many small companies that can’t meet the federal mandate which makes no sense.

For example, any money that an insurance company spends on Wellness does not count. So a company that spends a lot on wellness to prevent more costly treatments (diabetes, heart disease) will have to cut back on these programs and spend more when people get diabetes or have a heart attack.

I have no problem requiring companies to publish how much they spend (percentage) on actual health care but don’t like dictating a percentage in law.

Comment by 4 percent Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 10:57 am
4 percent’s point on how insurance works is important. but just like the big banks, insurance needs to be reviewed for admin costs and executive costs, often way too high.

And I don’t think the only problem is with the insurance companies. Company and government Health Benefits depts. often seem to be incapable of transmitting the correct information on benefits to the Insurance co. I recently had interactions over three days with a Dept. and a company, three times calling, three similar bits of info, the right card arrived in the mail, then another incorrect one did. this is not the first such experience. personnel who work in all offices involved, including the physician’s office, need to be clued up.

sometimes I think they keep records on napkins. This is a huge waste of money that could go to actual healthcare.

Comment by amalia Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 11:12 am
I see no problem with wellness programs being included in the 80% as long as they are substantive. Just blasting an email out with the CDC’s recommendations on diet and exercise does not equal substantive. A tailored program that assists people in meeting those goals in a reasonable way, on the other hand, would be, and should be able to have the actual expenses for such a program included in the 80%.

Comment by cermak_rd Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 12:04 pm
Robust shorts, much obliged.

I particularly enjoyed the article on the Len Small book. Fascinating subject how organized crime has played such a large role in American politics everywhere and in both parties.

I highly recommend checking out the Arcadia Publishing line. Great, photo-filled books on ethnic groups, communities, neighborhoods, towns all over Illinois and the country.

A couple of years back for Christmas, I bought the line’s History of Franklin Park book for my father-in-law, who grew up and lived there before flying south with the snowbirds.

As he thumbed through, he came across a photo of himself and his future wife as young people, taking part in VE Day celebrations on Franklin Avenue.

That rated a corner piece of lasagna at the holiday feast.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 12:33 pm
If you want to read about the grisly details at length, you need to check out Jim Ridings’ original book, “Len Small, Governors and Gangsters.” One of Small’s worst offenses was appointing a thoroughly corrupt board to oversee pardons and paroles. Gangsters who could raise the necessary bribes would end up serving only a fraction of their sentences.

Comment by Honest Abe Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 2:13 pm
==Thank God private industry is so efficient. ==

Anyone who thinks that the insurance industry is “private” isn’t paying attention. But, sincce the one thing that makes private industry efficient — inefficient businesses die — may not be the best idea for insurance companies, I’m not complaining.

Comment by Pat Robertson Friday, Feb 4, 11 @ 3:14 pm