Illinois Review

Four myths about health care exchanges

CHICAGO - The Supreme Court's 5 to 4 decision that affirmed the progression of the Obama Administration's Affordable Care Act also allowed for states to opt out of the ACA's health care exchanges. These exchanges, explained as Travelocity's of health insurance plans, can be run by states, by the federal government or now, by a state-federal government partnership.  Illinois, as most other states, is running behind money- and time-wise in setting up an exchange. Now that Obamacare has been given the green light to progress, lawmakers are deciding whether and how they should proceed.

With health care exchanges at the forefront, Illinois Policy Institute's February 2012 "Four Myths about Obamacare Health Care Exchanges" provides some answers worth reviewing:

When repeal is no longer enough

By The Cranky Housewife -

Wow. What a difference a day makes. You wake up thinking you're a freeman and voila! Suddenly you're a slave to the State's voracious appetites. Who could have known that Khrushchev was so prescient? Well, wink-wink – I guess Jan Schakowsky did. See video below:

Obamatax (video)

Anderson wants Illinois to opt out of Obamacare Medicaid expansion

Moline, IL-- Following Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding Obamacare, Republican House candidate Neil Anderson urged Illinois legislators to opt out of the Obamacare Medicaid expansion.

While the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), the Court also ruled that Congress cannot penalize states that choose not to participate in the new Medicaid expansion by taking away their existing Medicaid funding.

House Candidate Neil Anderson believes the Illinois General Assembly should pass legislation to opt out of the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, which would add an estimated 700,000 individuals to the state’s Medicaid load.

“Obamacare is a tax on the middle class to pay for more welfare,” Anderson said. “It will inflate our welfare and add billions of dollars in costs to Illinois taxpayers. Obamacare expansion is estimated to cost the state up to $2.4 billion over the next six years.”

Legal opinions differ over Madigan and Alvarez' refusal to defend state marriage law

Associated Press had a story Thursday in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about Illinois prosecutors Attorney General Lisa Madigan's and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez' joint refusal to defend the state's same sex marriage ban. 

Thomas More Society's Peter Breen started a back-and-forth between legal experts as to whether it is appropriate for the state's law enforcement officers to determine themselves whether they will or will not defend a law put into place by the legislative and executive branches as was the state's marriage law in 1996:

"You can't just say you feel it's unconstitutional," said Breen.  "This ... puts people of the state of Illinois in a difficult place because their elected representatives are not defending their interests. If there is no argument or disagreement, then you'd really have a hollow judgment."

Minority Leader Cross reaffirms: Our position has always been for repeal of Obamacare

Update- Cross reaffirms opposition to Obamacare in response

PLAINFIELD - House MInority Leader Tom Cross (R-Plainfield) made a strong statement against Obamacare Thursday afternoon, despite a recent radio interview in which he defended Republican House members that voted to move Cook County ahead two years into Obamacare for 250,000 childless adults:

Where is Lisa? With Fitzgerald leaving, will she step up her role?

Today former Chicago Alderman Ambrosio Medrano and former Cook County Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno appeared in Federal Court where they were charged on public corruption charges.

Where was Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan on this?

"With U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald stepping down, the Illinois Attorney General is going to need to step up to the plate and investigate corruption within the state, like she promised to the people of Illinois when she was a candidate," said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady. "We'll certainly miss U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald, since Lisa Madigan has no inclination to do the job she's elected to do," added Brady.

ILGOP Chair on Obamacare ruling

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady issued the following statement regarding the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on ObamaCare:

“ObamaCare will lead to the implosion of our health care system, an explosion of our national debt and economic uncertainty for millions of job creators. This comes as no surprise since Barack Obama spent his formative political years in Springfield being trained by Illinois Democrats like Michael Madigan, who through years of mismanagement, have led Illinois to having the worst budget deficit, credit rating, pension debt and business climate in the nation.”

Walsh votes with colleagues to hold Holder in contempt

WASHINGTON – Today Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-8) voted in a bipartisan manner to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for not cooperating with an October 12, 2011 subpoena. After more than a year of investigating Operation Fast and Furious, the Department of Justice has failed to produce numerous subpoenaed documents to the committee.

“I do not take this action lightly, and I think it is regretful that it has reached this point,” said Walsh.  “Questions have been dodged and left unanswered for way too long. Attorney General Holder’s lack of cooperation, accountability, and concern in this investigation is unacceptable. The bottom line is that many lives were lost – on both sides of the border. Today’s vote brings us one step closer to providing answers to Brian Terry’s family and the American people.”

Schock Vows to Continue Efforts for FULL Repeal

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) commented on the Supreme Court decision to uphold the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA). Said Schock: “Today the Supreme Court has spoken, but so too have the American people who have made it clear they oppose ObamaCare by increasing numbers since the day it was signed into law.

“During consideration of ObamaCare, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said ‘we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it’. That shocked the American people, but it was true. Now, the more we learn about ObamaCare, the clearer it becomes that it is unable to live up to its billing. The inherent severe problems with ObamaCare include:

Jackson Jr. camp says timing of announcement coincidental

The timing of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s announcement Monday that he had begun a medical leave of absence two weeks earlier has taken on new significance.

Frank Watkins, Jackson's Washington spokesman, said the news about his leave was released just before 5 p.m. CST on Monday. Rupert Borgsmiller, the State Board of Elections' executive director, said 5 p.m. Monday was the deadline for independent candidates to file nomination papers to run for Jackson's seat in the November election.

Watkins, in an interview, insisted there was no link between the delay in making the news public and the filing deadline. "That was not a factor at all," he said. But Wayne Steger, chairman of the political science department at DePaul University, said in an interview with the Tribune that the first thing that occurred to him when he read about Jackson's leave was that the filing deadline must have passed for additional candidates to enter the race.

"Obviously, they timed the announcement so that he can't have any new opponent who would use this (medical leave) against him in the general election," Steger said. "The timing is designed to make sure he wins re-election, despite having to take a leave of absence during the summer." ...More HERE

Governor Quinn giddy: It's a "great, great day," health exchanges on the way

SPRINGFIELD (AP) - Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is delighted with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling upholding the majority of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

Quinn said Thursday that it's a "great, great day" for health care in Illinois and in the country. He spoke at a news conference after signing three health care-related laws at the new Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago.

Quinn says the ruling gives the state Legislature the opportunity to go forward with a health care exchange in Illinois. Quinn didn't rule out creating the exchange by executive order.

Supreme Court: states don't have to expand Medicaid

By Jonathan Ingram, Illinois Policy Institute -

Today's ObamaCare decision was a severe blow to the constitutional limits on federal power. But there is one bright spot: the Court ruled that the federal government can't force states like Illinois to expand their Medicaid programs.

ObamaCare doubled-down on broken Medicaid programs by requiring states to expand eligibility for Medicaid. Here in Illinois, that meant adding another 1.5 million people to a program that already fails to meet the needs of the poorest among us. If states refused to go along with this, the federal government would cut their Medicaid funding to zero.

But today's ruling holds those provisions unconstitutional. As the opinion noted, Congress may not "penalize States that choose not to participate" in the massive Medicaid expansion by "taking away their existing Medicaid funding."

Democrat Bustos says "DC needs to move on" after Supreme Court decision

Democrat candidate in the 17th CD Cheri Bustos had a snippy and rather unsophisticated response to the Supreme Court's decision about Obamacare Thursday. Bustos tweeted that it is time for Congress to move on, indicating a rather oblivious and out of touch with 17th CDers. Most are trying to move on but they can’t because the healthcare overhaul Bustos supports is costing Illinois jobs and hurting our seniors by destroying Medicare.

“Republicans want to ‘repeal and replace’ the Affordable Health Care Act, but ‘I [Bustos] don’t see it the same way. There are many good components of the health care act,” (“House hopeful Bustos weighs in on health, jobs,” - Rockford Register Star, Feb. 20, 2012)

Democrat Bill Enyart aims at insurance companies in Supreme Court response

Newly-picked 12th CD Democrat candidate Bill Enyart aimed at insurance companies as the health care culprits in his response to today's Supreme Court health care ruling:

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled, it’s time for Congress to get serious about building a strong economy that will create desperately needed jobs. Southern Illinois families are worried about making ends meet and keeping their Medicare, and we can’t afford for Washington to waste any more time trying to score political points and keeping our middle class waiting.

Kinzinger plans to fight government takeover of health care

By Hannah Ihms -

Shortly after the Supreme Court released its decision on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Representative Adam Kinzinger (IL-11) weighed in on the ruling making a formal statement and then answered questions from Washington DC via a phone press conference call. Mr. Kinzinger further explained his thoughts on Obamacare to reporters from various media agencies:

Wanda Rohl this morning said, ‘The government already makes people buy auto insurance. The government already makes people do other things, and we are already paying for the uninsured anyway, so she’d rather have everybody covered. Could you respond to that?’

KInzinger: “I think Wanda’s made it clear that she believes that there’s a huge role for basically a full government takeover of healthcare. It’s an area where we fundamentally disagree. State government—and keep in mind it is state—can make people buy car insurance, but they can’t force people to drive. You don’t have to have a license to simply exist as a person. In this case, it looks like the Supreme Court agreed that the Federal government does not have the power to do that. However, again, [Obamacare proponents] went and said, ‘This is actually a tax increase and the Federal government does have a right to tax.’

“So, from that perspective, this is a tax increase on the American people and it is not saying that the federal government has a right to make people buy something simply for existing.”

Plummer: Americans need true reform, not government-run healthcare

Jason Plummer, Republican nominee for Illinois' 12th Congressional District seat, released the following statement after reading the U.S. Supreme Court's Thursday, June 28, decision on Obamacare.

“The Supreme Court's decision today does not change the fact that Obamacare is an unworkable and unaffordable piece of legislation that is not right for the American people,” Plummer said. “The Court's ruling that the individual mandate is unconstitutional and a tax goes against everything the President and his allies said as they were trying to pass the law, and puts an increased burden on working families.

Rep. Walsh: President's Health Care Plan Is a Massive Tax Increase

Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-8) released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court of the United States' decision to uphold the President's health care plan:

"Today, I, along with most Americans, am disappointed with the Supreme Court decision. It is now clear that the only way to repeal this law is legislatively," Walsh said. "Today's decision only affirms what we have known all along - the President's health care plan is a massive tax increase. The President insisted that his health care plan would not cost the American people anything, but that is just untrue. To be clear, this is not a tax on wealthy Americans who already have insurance. This tax hits the 44 million uninsured Americans, who are already struggling and cannot afford to pay more hard-earned income in taxes.

Illinois Policy Institute's Tillman responds to SCOTUS Decision

Kirk: Congress should repeal health care and replace with centrist reforms

Washington, D.C. - Today U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) released the following statement on the Supreme Court of the United States' ruling on the health care law:

"While I respect the Court’s decision, the health care law threatens our economic recovery by raising taxes, imposing new regulations and creating a drag on the economy," said Senator Kirk. "Congress should repeal the health care law and replace it with common sense, centrist reforms that give Americans the right to buy insurance across state lines and expand coverage without raising taxes, while blocking the government from coming between patients and their doctors."