In a move that has infuriated some lawmakers, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has filed the first in a series of orders that would allow him to broadly expand who is eligible for state-subsidized health insurance without the approval of the legislature. [snip]$82, 600 is 400% of the federally defined poverty level. Four times the poverty level and we should subsidize this? Where will the money come from? Our pockets, already hit with threatened tax increases at every level of (Dem) government. This latest lunacy even as the state can't pay its current bills and pension obligations are massively underfunded. How much will it cost? The governor says $225 million a year. Opposing legislators say it will cost $300-$360 million a year. But this doesn't bother Blagojevich. The Daily Herald quotes two lawmakers on the committee:
The rule will last no more than five months unless the change is approved by an obscure rules-making committee of 12 state lawmakers who meet Tuesday in Chicago. The rule can be suspended if eight members vote against it. [snip]
Under the new rules, a family of four could buy discounted insurance as long as its household income is no more than $82,600 a year, which is well above the previous FamilyCare limit of $38,202.
Suburban lawmakers serving on the committee that now holds the fate of the health-care plan say this is far too big and costly to be decided by such an obscure group."It's not that we don't want to provide health care for these people, I don't think we have the authority," said state Rep. Rosemary Mulligan, a Des Plaines Republican.
"No matter how you feel about health care … this isn't a proper way for an initiative that's this important, to kind of slide it through this way," echoed state Sen. Randy Hultgren, a Winfield Republican.
Will enough Democrats on the committee vote to put a stop to this? Will they stand up to Governor Dictator? We won't hold our breath, but voters may have something to say about it next fall.
UPDATE: Dems are worried. Prairie State Blue:
People who live in communities which see rapid increases in property values are asking that their taxes not reflect the new value of their property.Duh.
On the one hand, since government must collect those taxes from someone, that means that the cost of governemt falls more heavily on those who are not experiencing the growth in their wealth.
On the other hand, people who merely want to live out their lives in the houses and neighborhoods they are used to fear that the cost of taxes will deprive them of their homes.
Related posts: NoPhoneTax.com, Pocketbook Politics, Pattycake, Pattycake Plays Again, Governor Delusional
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