Calls to legislators and letters to the editor will help with this effort and make it a reality, grassroots resources are being prepared I’ll get them to you later today.
Plan targets gap in kids' coverage
October 6, 2005
BY CHRIS FUSCO AND LORI RACKL Staff Reporters
Hundreds of thousands of Illinois children who do not have health insurance would be eligible for coverage under an ambitious proposal Gov. Blagojevich will announce today.
The unprecedented plan is aimed at families whose incomes are too high to qualify for Public Aid insurance for their children but still can't afford increasingly costly private coverage.
More than 250,000 Illinois children lack health insurance, according to U.S. census data and state research. About 75 percent of them come from middle-class families with household incomes between $40,000 and $80,000 a year.
The governor's plan,
if approved by lawmakers, would make Illinois the only state to offer comprehensive health insurance coverage to every child, the governor's office and other health experts said.
Blagojevich pegs the cost at $45million the first year, when enrollment would be expected to reach 50,000.
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http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-gov06.htmlGovernor Blagojevich will offer plan for uninsured
By Alexa Aguilar
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/05/2005
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich
(Anne Ryan/AP)
Gov. Rod Blagojevich will announce today a new plan to provide health insurance to all uninsured Illinois children, a proposal his administration is touting as the most comprehensive in the nation.
Blagojevich has enlisted the Democratic leaders in both the House and the Senate to sign on as sponsors of the bill;
they plan to introduce the legislation in this year's November veto session.
Ambitious health-care plan proposed
By Mary Massingale
of Copley News Service
SPRINGFIELD - Gov. Rod Blagojevich is proposing an innovative health-insurance program for children, regardless of income and financed by shifting most of the state's Medicaid population into an HMO-style system.
Leaders of the Democratic-controlled legislature are backing the $45 million proposal called "All Kids" for their fall veto session. The new program would begin operation July 1, 2006.
The chief of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services said Wednesday that the measure would close the gap for an estimated 253,000 uninsured children while capitalizing on a national, more cost-effective trend to move Medicaid patients to a managed-care system with a primary physician.
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http://www.pjstar.com/stories/100605/REG_B7OSGD9A.050.shtmlGovernor's historic health insurance plan to cover all kids in Illinois
by Karen E. Pride, Chicago Defender
October 6, 2005
Gov. Rod Blagojevich will announce a groundbreaking health care proposal today that will guarantee health benefits for children and their families who can't afford private healthcare.
The program, called All Kids, would offer the insurance to families who earn too much to qualify for state-funded plans like KidCare.
If passed by the General Assembly, the program would begin in July, making Illinois the first state in the country to offer a comprehensive health care plan to all children in the state.
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http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=2479Blagojevich: We'll insure all children
By Kurt Erickson
kerickson@springnet1.com
SPRINGFIELD -- Every child in Illinois would get access to a state-funded health insurance program under a plan to be detailed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich today.
In what may be a first in the nation, the governor wants to make sure an estimated 253,000 currently uninsured children are covered by health insurance, which would cost an estimated $45 million.
But, the governor's program would not be limited to just low-income children.
"Children should have health care and our new program makes affordable, good health care available to every child in Illinois," said Blagojevich in a prepared statement.
The governor will announce the plan in Chicago.
He wants lawmakers to approve it in the veto session that begins Oct. 25.
The proposal has the backing of House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones.
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http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/100605/new_20051006026.shtml
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