The middle class families of Illinois are on the verge of getting cheap health insurance. So it is ordered by his most regal majesty, the King, Rod the First.
Now that Congress has axed an expanded SCHIP program, Governor Rod Blajojevich decided that his state was going to offer health care to adults anyway. Why wait for Washington to make the move?
The problem is, there is no way to pay for a program that would provide medical insurance at low, low rates to a family of four that earns $82,600 per year. At the present time, only families making $38,202 are eligible for the discounted insurance. Reduced cost coverage will be pegged at about $360 per month, to make it affordable for those who can already afford.
When His Most Royal Majesty tried to push expanded health insurance coverage through the Illinois legislature last March, the decree failed miserably. Imagine facing your constituents as you explain why you voted in favor of benefits for those comfortably off? It would have involved a tax increase to pay for it, and the average voter making $35,000 per year would not be too keen on paying a wealthier family's health care costs.
Still, the governor wants this bigger and better program, so he has issued a royal decree in the form of an emergency order. It is an emergency, isn't it? If the rules-making committee doesn't strike down the rule, it stands for five months and someone will have to pay the price. The fact is, the state of Illinois simply doesn't have the money to pay for existing health care, especially since the state has already paid money to friends of the King for medical tests billed but never performed.
Most people figure that it'll be more of the same, with an expanded pool of suckers to draw from, if the emergency decree is allowed to stand. It's business as usual, the price of corruption to be paid by the hard-pressed taxpayer who can't afford to get sick.
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