Illinois

Nearly 72 percent of Illinois Medicaid cases reviewed last week had eligibility errors

By Jonathan Ingram
10/02/2013
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...

TAGS: AFSCME: American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, audit, Medicaid

Pay to stay

By Benjamin VanMetre
10/02/2013
Earlier this year Texas Gov. Rick Perry wrote a letter to Illinois’ businesses and individuals trying to sell them on a move to Texas. The sales pitch was simple — it wasn’t tax credits, grants or sweetheart deals. The sales pitch was this — Texas doesn’t have an income tax. Perry understands something that Illinois...

TAGS: Archer Daniels Midland, cronyism

Freedom for workers – teachers can get out of paying union dues

By Paul Kersey
10/01/2013
Illinois public school teachers are required to financially support unions whether they want to or not. They don’t have much of a choice – it’s either pay up, or give up teaching. Union bosses claim to have teachers’ best interests in mind, but despite this they sometimes make outrageous demands that cost teachers their jobs....

TAGS: agency fees, Civil Rights Act, Hudson Rights, Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, TRS: Teachers’ Retirement System

How ObamaCare will affect premiums for Springfield residents

By Jonathan Ingram
09/30/2013
Oct. 1 marks the first day of ObamaCare’s open enrollment period. Despite the fact that consumers are expected to start buying plans tomorrow, the state and federal government have been tight-lipped about what will be available on the ObamaCare health insurance exchange. The federal government has begun trickling out bits and pieces about the plans, but...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act, health insurance

As usual, politicians win, taxpayers lose in legislator pay lawsuit

09/28/2013
In July, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn used his line-item veto power to suspend legislators’ salaries, pledging to withhold legislators’ paychecks until they solved the state’s pension problem. But just Thursday, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Neil H. Cohen ruled that Quinn’s move was unconstitutional. Article IV, Section 11, of the Illinois Constitution prohibits any “changes” to...

TAGS: John Cullerton, lawmaker pay, Mike Madigan, Pat Quinn

Part-time Illinois: Work hours have dropped since ObamaCare signed into law

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
09/27/2013
Executive Summary Illinois is in the midst of a decades long struggle to overcome numerous challenges ranging from corruption, high unemployment, underfunded pensions and high taxes. At a time when the state can’t afford any additional obstacles, recent data provide support to the claim that employers have been cutting employee hours to avoid the costliest...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act, jobs

More than 150,000 Medicaid enrollees found ineligible for the program

By Jonathan Ingram
09/26/2013
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...

TAGS: AFSCME: American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, audit, HFS: Healthcare and Family Services, Medicaid, Pat Quinn

ObamaCare: How much is it going to cost Illinosians?

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
09/26/2013
Illinoisans have heard the pitches about how affordable health insurance will be under the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as ObamaCare. On Sept. 24, Gov. Pat Quinn was trumpeting the ObamaCare health insurance exchange in Illinois. Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is at it. Both have been cheering the least-expensive health insurance...
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Fighting poverty with employment: Chicago block clubs

Leaders of these organizations on the South and West sides connect residents to jobs and engage youth to build safer neighborhoods.

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016