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Illinois Times: Medicaid fraud a $30 billion industry
Want to make some easy cash? Try defrauding Medicaid.
It’s a booming business, according to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which says the total amount of “improper payments” for Medicaid last year totaled more than $29 billion and accounted for nearly a tenth of all payments. Just one caveat: you’ll probably get caught, and you may serve some prison time.
This illicit industry – along with other kinds of costly health care waste – is the subject of a new report released last week by the Illinois Health Care Fraud Elimination Task Force. Created by Gov. Bruce Rauner in April, the panel hopes to battle fraud, waste and abuse in Medicaid, state employee health insurance and workers’ compensation cases. The surprising thing is, however, that the vast majority of fraud in government-funded health care programs isn’t perpetrated by patients; it’s done by doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other medical providers.
BND: Scary video of Illinois House speaker is free to watch, expensive to continue
When we look for the face of the problems with Illinois state government, we often turn to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. There certainly has been a fair share of ink and pixels expended on villifying him, and rightly so.
He has been in the Illinois House since 1971 and served as speaker since 1983, except for a two-year lapse. If it is a bill or a budget, it goes nowhere without his OK. He is the reason U.S. Rep. Mike Bost ranted and threw a pension bill in the air when he was still a state representative. He is the primary reason Illinois has failed to pass a state budget for 2016 or 2017. He is a master at nullifying the checks and balances of state government.
How he came into being is a subject worthy of study. A new documentary was created by Illinois Policy Action, the advocacy arm of the conservative Illinois Policy Institute, entitled “Madigan: Power, Privilege, Politics.” We will show it in partnership with Illinois Policy from 7 p.m. Thursday through 7 p.m. Sunday at bnd.com.
Sun-Times: Chicago Board of Education approves $1 billion in more borrowing
Chicago’s Board of Education unanimously authorized the sale of $1 billion in bonds Wednesday, with the bulk of the borrowing to pay for yet-to-be announced capital projects.
In addition to the $840 million for capital spending, Chicago Public Schools plans to borrow an additional $160 million to refinance debt taken on at interest rates as high as 9 percent, district officials said Wednesday. That’s on top of an anticipated $945 million in short-term credit needed to keep the district operating until property tax revenue rolls in next spring.
Sun-Times: Aldermen unleash their anger about Cubs yanking ticket offer
Chicago aldermen vented their anger Wednesday about the Cubs’ decision to yank a lucrative offer to let aldermen buy World Series tickets at face value.
Ald. Milly Santiago (31st) said she’s “a poor alderman” who can’t afford to pay thousands of dollars for Cubs tickets purchased on the secondary market.
Chicago Tribune: Could coding boot camps see stricter standards?
Chicagoan Connie Lee shopped for a coding school like she would a restaurant — by looking at reviews.
The University of California-San Diego alumna started coding in college, and when she graduated in December with no job and pressure from her parents to find one, she knew what she wanted and started the search.
Finding quickly that job-placement claims for grads were similarly positive on each boot camp’s site, alumni reviews became the differentiator.
BND: Scary video of Illinois House speaker is free to watch, expensive to continue
When we look for the face of the problems with Illinois state government, we often turn to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. There certainly has been a fair share of ink and pixels expended on villifying him, and rightly so.
He has been in the Illinois House since 1971 and served as speaker since 1983, except for a two-year lapse. If it is a bill or a budget, it goes nowhere without his OK. He is the reason U.S. Rep. Mike Bost ranted and threw a pension bill in the air when he was still a state representative. He is the primary reason Illinois has failed to pass a state budget for 2016 or 2017. He is a master at nullifying the checks and balances of state government.
How he came into being is a subject worthy of study. A new documentary was created by Illinois Policy Action, the advocacy arm of the conservative Illinois Policy Institute, entitled “Madigan: Power, Privilege, Politics.” We will show it in partnership with Illinois Policy from 7 p.m. Thursday through 7 p.m. Sunday at bnd.com.
Chicago Tribune: Area officials look to address municipal pension funds
A municipal pension reform plan proposed by the recently installed president of the Illinois Municipal League is generating mixed reactions throughout portions of Lake County.
Karen Darch, who also serves as the Barrington village president, was elected president of the advocacy group in September and during her acceptance speech expressed a desire to merge local police and fire pensions into the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) or to create a similar program.
“I think it should be a priority,” Darch told Pioneer Press on Oct. 14. “Pension reform is a huge issue for all of the municipalities, so it has been at the top of everyone’s list for a long time.”