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
Cash-strapped Illinois should end master’s degree pay bumps
Cash-strapped Illinois should end master’s degree pay bumps
School districts across Illinois waste more than $941 million a year by giving raises to teachers who earn their master’s degrees, even though most studies show these degrees do nothing to boost student achievement. In fact, even U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan thinks this is one of the worst ways to spend money in...
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 past...
By Justin Hegy
Indiana sues IRS over ObamaCare employer mandate
Indiana sues IRS over ObamaCare employer mandate
While the media and public are focused on lawmakers’ fight over ObamaCare and the federal budget, a bigger fight is taking place in the courts. On Oct. 8, the state of Indiana, along with 15 school districts, filed suit against the Internal Revenue Service over ObamaCare’s employer mandate. Under the law, large employers are required...
By Naomi Lopez Bauman
State, unions work together to keep parents in the dark
State, unions work together to keep parents in the dark
Illinois school districts and administrators want to keep parents in the dark. That’s why the Illinois State Board of Education is refusing to do a full release of results from a survey about the inner workings of the state’s public schools. The state paid $600,000 to Chicago Consortium on School Research to conduct the survey,...
Union bosses silence ObamaCare critiques to pander to Democrat allies
Union bosses silence ObamaCare critiques to pander to Democrat allies
Just a couple of weeks ago the AFL-CIO passed a sharp criticism of the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as ObamaCare, in a written document at its national convention in Los Angeles. This document was the last of a string of union complaints about the national health insurance law and the way that the...
By Paul Kersey
ObamaCare: Time for heads to roll?
ObamaCare: Time for heads to roll?
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius is in damage control mode in the wake of the glitches and failures of ObamaCare’s grand unveiling. Her op-ed in USA Today calls the government’s ObamaCare website “simple, user-friendly.” She also appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. But her next appearance might be in...
By Naomi Lopez Bauman
The Local Transparency Project
The Local Transparency Project
The Local Transparency Project is an encouraging example of a successful grassroots effort and a great resource for citizen activists looking to organize and mobilize.– Sunlight Foundation For democracy to work citizens need access to the information about what government does. Proactive online transparency is the best way to give citizens the opportunity to be educated...
By Jonelle Lesniak
Illinois’ unfriendly business environment killing jobs, growth
Illinois’ unfriendly business environment killing jobs, growth
A new Tax Foundation report reveals one of the reasons why Illinoisans are finding it so hard to get jobs – it’s getting more and more expensive for businesses to operate in Illinois. The Tax Foundation released today its 2014 State Business Tax Climate Index, confirming the state’s worsening position. Illinois has dropped 15 spots to...
By Benjamin VanMetre
Lessons from Vallejo: Don’t avoid pension reforms
Lessons from Vallejo: Don’t avoid pension reforms
Illinois legislators and local officials could learn a thing or two from California cities that have buckled under the weight of too much debt. The first is if they don’t implement reforms early enough, bankruptcy for the city of Chicago and other municipalities may be unavoidable. In California, both Stockton and San Bernardino were forced...
By Ted Dabrowski
Shrinking the Illinois Senate
Shrinking the Illinois Senate
With 42,336 elected officials as of 1992, Illinois has nearly 12,000 more state and local elected politicians than any other state. Amazingly, with this unprecedented wealth of legislators Illinois hasn’t been able to adequately address some of its most dire problems. Illinois still ranks near the bottom of the nation in numerous key economic indicators,...
By Brian Costin
ObamaCare glitches
ObamaCare glitches
The ObamaCare exchanges have been riddled with glitches. I spent three hours last week trying to look at what’s available and couldn’t even create an account. It was not the “fast, completely scalable and secure” experience I was promised by the chief technology officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The administration has claimed these problems are related...
By Jonathan Ingram
U.S. Supreme Court takes on home-care unionization laws
U.S. Supreme Court takes on home-care unionization laws
Illinois is one of several states that have chosen to allow the “unionization” of people who provide care for children or disabled persons and receive assistance from state programs. But one woman has stood up against this forced unionization. Pamela Harris is a mother from Western Springs, Ill., who has been forced to fend off...
By Paul Kersey