GOP House members join GOP Senators in pushing Cook Co. into Obamacare (Illinois)

SPRINGFIELD - Last night, with the help of 11 Republicans, the Illinois House passed HB 5007, which accelerated Cook County's movement into Obamacare provisions. Even though Obamacare may be found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, lame duck Republican House members together with those in secure districts, joined Democrats in allowing Cook County to apply for waivers that would advance its involvement into the Obamacare plan.

Although House Minority Leader Tom Cross voted "NO", the following 11 House Republicans voted "YES" with their Democrat colleagues: Franco Coladipietro, Jim Durkin, Mike Fortner, David Leitch, Sid Mathias, Mike McAuliffe, Rosemary Mulligan, Randy Ramey, Skip Saviano, Tim Schmitz and Dave Winters.

These 11 GOP House votes also allowed 13 Democrat members in competitive and conservative downstate districts to vote "No" in order to keep themselves out of trouble with their constituencies this fall. (see list below)

Continue reading "GOP House members join GOP Senators in pushing Cook Co. into Obamacare" »

"Also as part of the package, the House and Senate sent Quinn a bill that would allow Cook County to enroll more people in the Medicaid program using local and federal funds, but not state funds. The vote in the House on House Bill 5007 was 62-55 and 35-22 in the Senate.

State regulations now bar expansion of the Medicaid rolls. HB5007 creates a waiver that would allow Cook County to start enrolling people who will be eligible in 2014, when President Barack Obama’s health care reform plan is scheduled to go into effect. The waiver would expire if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the health care law."

http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x639955210/House-committee-approves-Medicaid-cuts?zc_p=1

“The Chicago Democrats in charge of Illinois are running another scam on the most vulnerable Illinoisans with their proposed non-reform of the state’s Medicaid program. What Governor Quinn had initially presented as a plan to reduce Medicaid spending by $2.7 billion has come out the other end of the Springfield sausage grinder as a plan to raise taxes and impose counterproductive price controls that will worsen the access to quality health care for low-income families and disabled persons.”

“Furthermore, the proffered plan includes an end-run around the United States Supreme Court with a provision that begins the implementation of Obamacare in Cook County. Instead of reforming the state’s Medicaid rolls which currently include one-in-five Illinoisans by limiting the program to those truly needy persons it was intended to serve, Chicago Democrats would grow the Medicaid rolls by a projected 100,000 individuals.”

“Any legislator who votes for this plan is effectively saying that the personal and corporate income tax hikes of 2011 will not sunset in 2014 as was promised because they are committing the state to a level of Medicaid spending it cannot sustain, regardless of anticipated federal support.”

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2012/05/illinois-liberty-pac-opposes-medicaid-plan.html

You do realize that when Governor Quinn signs this bill into law next week this new law will make Illinois the first in the nation to implement Obamacare two years early, no matter what the Supreme Court rules.

There is no turning this back now. Chicago and Cook County Democrats along with the Illinois GOP won’t even give a thank you to all U.S. Federal and Illinois state taxpayers who will pay for this.

http://illinoispolicy.org/uploads/files/Cook%20County%201115%20Waiver.pdf

Early implementation of ObamaCare headed to Gov. Quinn’s desk

http://illinoispolicy.org/blog/blog.asp?ArticleSource=4870

Early implementation of ObamaCare headed to Gov. Quinn’s desk

5/25/2012

by Jonathan Ingram

Last night, we reported on a bill that is headed to the Governor’s desk which would allow the Quinn administration to implement key provisions of ObamaCare in Cook County nearly two years early. This bill was pushed through the legislature with virtual no debate or discussion on the floor.

Last year, lawmakers decided — nearly unanimously — to put a moratorium on expanding the Medicaid program so as to not overload an already broken system. HB 5007 gets around that moratorium by permitting “expansions approved by the federal government” which are financed through local and federal tax dollars. Only one such waiver has ever been filed. You can read it here.

This waiver’s expansion is based on implementing the new eligibility rules in ObamaCare, which would not otherwise take effect until 2014. These are the very provisions that a majority of states are suing the federal government over. In a letter accompanying that waiver, Julie Hamos, the director of Illinois’ Department of Healthcare and Family Services, wrote that she was seeking a waiver to “demonstrate the impact of early enrollment of ‘new Medicaid eligibles’ under the Affordable Care Act.” According to the waiver, an “estimated 250,000 eligibile adults in Cook County” could be enrolled in the program.

The bill itself then references ObamaCare in later pages, specifying what happens if the relevant provisions of Public Law 111-148 are held unconstitutional or are repealed by Congress.

Ultimately, including provisions that would overload an already-broken system with hundreds of thousands of new people as part of an overall “reform package” will hurt taxpayers at a time of record government spending, deficits and debt.

http://illinoispolicy.org/blog/blog.asp?ArticleSource=4870

http://sayanythingblog.com/fil

"earlier this year, Gov. Quinn filed a waiver request with the federal government to permit him to implement ObamaCare's massive Medicaid expansion in Cook County nearly two years early. That waiver estimates expanding the program to an additional 250,000 people.

Given the problems facing the Medicaid program, and the near unanimous decision to stop expanding the program until it was actually fixed, it is alarming that a major component of the total Medicaid reform package being discussed is to permit the Governor to move forward with early implementation of ObamaCare. The early implementation of ObamaCare does not save any money for the Medicaid program. To include provisions that would overload an already-broken system with hundreds of thousands of new people is unwise."

http://illinoispolicy.org/news/article.asp?ArticleSource=4866

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