75 percent of Illinois Medicaid cases reviewed last week had eligibility errors
75 percent of Illinois Medicaid cases reviewed last week had eligibility errors
In January, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, began a new project verifying eligibility for Illinois’ 2.7 million Medicaid enrollees. For years, state workers had failed to take adequate steps to ensure the people receiving Medicaid benefits were actually eligible for the program. As an Auditor General report noted, state workers failed to...
By Jonathan Ingram
More than 50% of Illinois’ nearly 200K government pensioners retired at age 59 or younger
More than 50% of Illinois’ nearly 200K government pensioners retired at age 59 or younger
Illinois government workers are able to retire before the age of 60 while collecting most of their final average salary.
By Ted Dabrowski
ObamaCare: Quinn touts 100K enrollees; all in Medicaid
ObamaCare: Quinn touts 100K enrollees; all in Medicaid
Gov. Pat Quinn has been touting 100,000 new Cook County enrollees as evidence of ObamaCare’s success. The reality is that this claim reflects both desperate and creative government accounting. The governor was referring to 100,000 people who enrolled in the state’s Medicaid expansion program earlier this year under an early pilot project in Cook County....
By Naomi Lopez Bauman
Number of Illinois union bosses earning six-figure salaries continues to grow
Number of Illinois union bosses earning six-figure salaries continues to grow
In Big Labor mythology, union leaders are gritty, idealistic working class people standing up to the arrogant and wealthy. In reality, running a union is big business, and a union gig can mean making a pretty good living. Illinois teachers unions can be particularly generous with compensation. In “The Labor Book,” we looked at government...
By Paul Kersey
ObamaCare: Rate shock in Illinois and across the nation
ObamaCare: Rate shock in Illinois and across the nation
One of the harsh realities of ObamaCare is that the insurance plans available under the president’s sweeping law are more expensive than insurance that is currently available. For example, a 27-year-old man living in Chicago would pay $125 per month for the lowest-cost “bronze” plan under ObamaCare. If that individual had an income of $25,000,...
By Naomi Lopez Bauman
Democrats receive overwhelming majority of Illinois government union donations
Democrats receive overwhelming majority of Illinois government union donations
In recent months, unions that had been sharply critical about many aspects of ObamaCare have been extremely quiet since Republicans in Congress have made a concerted – and very controversial – attempt to slow down implementation of the law. The federal government shutdown could have presented a creative union lobbyist with a great opening to...
By Paul Kersey
Legislators call for Chicago Public Schools to play by the same education funding rules
Legislators call for Chicago Public Schools to play by the same education funding rules
Chicago Public Schools, or CPS, has been getting special treatment from the state for almost 20 years when it comes to funding for special education, transportation and nutrition programs. According to a recent report in the Belleville News-Democrat, CPS received $607 million in a special block grant from the state last year for these programs...
Progressive tax hike proposal attacks Illinois’ working and middle classes
Progressive tax hike proposal attacks Illinois’ working and middle classes
State Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana, recently revealed a new progressive tax proposal with rates that hit Illinois’ middle and working classes hard. Under current Illinois law, the individual income tax rate will be 3.75 percent in 2015. Under Jakobsson’s new plan, however, a higher 4 percent rate kicks in for people earning just $18,000. That...
By Benjamin VanMetre
Hidden consequences of Illinois’ credit downgrades
Hidden consequences of Illinois’ credit downgrades
Illinois’ credit rating is in a free fall. Rating agencies have downgraded Illinois 13 times under Gov. Pat Quinn. Most recently, Moody’s Investors Service reduced Illinois’ credit rating to A3 from Aa3 – just four notches above junk status. Even before this downgrade, Illinois already had the worst credit rating in the nation. Illinois’ constant...
By Ted Dabrowski
Pension reform: Time to means test COLAs
Pension reform: Time to means test COLAs
Illinois’ pension conference committee is once again rumored to be nearing a “fix” for the state’s pension mess. But if the pension conference committee is serious about saving the pensions of state retirees and workers who have dedicated their careers to public work, they will put an end to cost-of-living-adjustments, or COLAs, for government retirees...
By Ted Dabrowski
ObamaCare: Who is eligible for coverage?
ObamaCare: Who is eligible for coverage?
Under the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as ObamaCare, individuals are required to have health insurance coverage by Jan. 1, 2014, or pay a fine. This provision of the law is called the individual mandate. There are a number of ways that people can obtain coverage under ObamaCare if they do not currently get...
By Naomi Lopez Bauman
More than 73 percent of Illinois Medicaid cases reviewed last week had eligibility errors
More than 73 percent of Illinois Medicaid cases reviewed last week had eligibility errors
In January, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, began a new project verifying eligibility for Illinois’ 2.7 million Medicaid enrollees. For years, state workers had failed to take adequate steps to ensure the people receiving Medicaid benefits were actually eligible for the program. As an Auditor General report noted, state workers failed to...
By Jonathan Ingram
Disappearance of Illinois’ manufacturing sector
Disappearance of Illinois’ manufacturing sector
It’s hard not to notice the disappearance of Illinois’ manufacturing sector. Anyone driving through the outskirts of Peoria can witness the closed buildings and half-abandoned neighborhoods. Cities all across Illinois have seen a similar story unfold. Illinois’ manufacturing base has been in decline, losing over 130,000 manufacturing jobs in the past decade. Even during the...
By Justin Hegy