Dear Illinois Member of Samaritan Ministries:

 

The day after we mailed a letter informing Samaritan Ministries Members about “All Kids”—Governor Blagojevich’s proposal for expanding taxpayer funded government health insurance for children—the bill was rushed to vote and passed 32-23 in the Senate on October 26 and 79-28 on October 27 in the House.   

 

The legislators who voted for this bill essentially “signed a blank check,” as they voted for a bill they barely had time to read that has many of the provisions left blank for the bureaucrats to work out later. We are sorry that we the letter we sent was too late to allow you to take any action, but the way the bill was pushed through, there simply was not enough time to respond.

 

Although the proposal was rushed and vague, what is known is enough to tell us that this plan will further undermine the health care system in our state. Like all government give-aways, the proposal has a seductive appeal – middle income families earning more than $40,000 per year will be able to obtain health insurance for their children at below market prices. (The children of families making less than that amount already have government insurance available.)  The projected cost to the taxpayers of $45 million per year will supposedly be covered by savings from putting the state’s Medicaid patients into a managed care system.

 

As we said in the letter you received, there are several reasons we believe Illinois families should be concerned about “All Kids”:

 

Illinois is already months behind in Medicaid payments to providers of medical care, creating a severe financial hardship for them. If money can be saved on the Medicaid program, there is a huge need to begin catching up on the state’s current shortfall, not to expand into other areas.

 

• “All Kids” will pay at only Medicaid rates, which are notoriously low, and health care providers will be forced to pass on their remaining costs to their  other patients who do not have subsidized medical care nor a special fee negotiated by their insurance company.
• Increasing the number of people depending on government subsidized coverage will eventually drive everyone else out of the market for covering children, because most parents will eventually tire of paying higher private insurance for their own children while also paying the taxes to support subsidized insurance for other middle class families’ children.
• A complicated plan is being rushed through with little public review.  Something similar happened in Maine in 2003 (“Dirigo Health Plan” ), resulting in higher Medicaid and insurance costs and upheaval in the health insurance market.
• The state government will have even more access to the health records of our families and will have more control over our health care.

 

If what has happened of concern to you, you can still let your State Senator and Representative know of your misgivings.  You can obtain your legislator’s address/phone number from your library or at www.ilga.gov.  Some of the provisions of “All Kids” are contained in House Bill 806.

 

More information on problems with "All Kids" and important updates about it and other important Illinois legislation is available at the Illinois Policy Institute. 

 

For The Kingdom,

 

 

Ted A Pittenger