 Gov. Bruce Rauner said the Health Care Fraud Elimination Task Force he created
through executive order Tuesday will work over the next year and a half to
investigate where taxpayer savings can be found.
Rauner said the state has a moral obligation to find savings.
“Frankly every dollar that we can save in wasteful spending or fraudulent
spending in health care is a dollar that we can put into our education system to
fund our schools or into our human services to fund our most vulnerable
families,” Rauner said.
Rauner said rooting out waste and fraud will help “keep the quality (of health
care) high, and in fact, hopefully increase the quality of service while making
sure that abuse in the system, fraud in the system, is eliminated so we can save
that money and put it into more effective use for the people of Illinois.”
The governor said the task force will study and adopt best practices of state
agency fraud-prevention units, federal government and other state governments’
efforts, and measures used in the private sector to root out fraud, waste and
abuse. The 12-person task force is composed of various members of the
administration.
The governor couldn’t say specifically how much fraud there could be but put the
figure in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year. However, according to
the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, a recent audit
removed thousands of individuals listed as dependents from the state-employee
group insurance plan, saving taxpayers an estimated $32 million.
MEASURE REQUIRING LABOR CONTRACTS BE POSTED BEFORE APPROVAL REMAINS IN COMMITTEE
Ever get angry that a labor contract for your school district was approved
before it was made available for review by you, the taxpayer? A measure that
could be heard in committee this week would change that.
House Bill 4583 from Republican state Rep. Jeanne Ives of Naperville would
require public-sector labor agreements to be published on a public body’s
website before being approved. Ives said she’s heard from taxpayers who are
upset they can’t review the documents before they’re ultimately approved.
“The public should know, and they have the right to know what they’re paying
for,” Ives said. “These are public contracts.”
Ives said she attempted similar legislation in the past but was told by
opponents it was too narrow, so she broadened the scope to include any
compensation agreement for one employee that exceeds $150,000.
The bill is scheduled to be heard Tuesday afternoon in the House Labor and
Commerce Committee, but Ives is pessimistic it will get a fair hearing.
“That’s a highly partisan committee,” Ives said. “It’s all about labor and
nothing about commerce.”
Even though she thinks the bill will fail to get out of committee, Ives said she
still wants to air her concerns and show she’s amenable to including other
provisions.
GROUP WANTS PROFESSIONAL MIDWIVES CERTIFIED
Soon-to-be parents wanting to give birth at home shouldn’t be forced into
black-market maternity care because the state doesn’t certified midwives who
don’t have nursing degrees, according to a group supporting state certification
of community, or professional, midwives.
Current Illinois law does not recognize professional midwives. The state
certifies nurse midwives, but Becky Coolidge with the Coalition for Illinois
Midwifery tells WMAY Springfield there aren’t enough, especially in rural areas.
“We like certified midwives. We wish there were more of them, but the reality is
there is way more demand for home birth providers than those six can supply,”
Coolidge said.
Coolidge also said parents who want to have a safe home birth are left to
finding a noncertified midwife through other means, which doesn’t allow for
accountability.
Barbara Belcore, also with the Coalition for Illinois Midwifery, said one big
problem with professional midwives not being certified is the lack of
communication with other medical professionals, especially if problems arise.
“If the home care provider is unregulated and unlicensed, then she cannot
communicate with a hospital provider without facing the fear of prosecution,”
Belcore said.
Belcore said House Bill 4364, known as the Home Birth Safety Act, would allow
for certification of professional midwives and would open up that line of
communication for the best outcomes.
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 However, opponents of the bill include the American Academy of
Pediatrics, which wants more collaboration with other medical
professionals. Other opponents say their concerns include who would
be held liable for any medical problems that arise during a home
birth.
A sponsor of the measure, Democratic state Rep. Robyn Gabel, says a
future amendment to the proposal will address opponents’ concerns.
The bill remains in committee.
GUN OWNERS TO LOBBY LAWMAKERS IN SPRINGFIELD
Illinois gun owners plan to take to the streets in Springfield
Wednesday arguing for more places to carry concealed firearms and
opposing taxes on firearms and ammunition.
Valinda Rowe, an organizer for the annual Illinois Gun Owner Lobby
Day, or I-GOLD, said even though Illinois gun owners won the right
through the courts and through legislation to carry concealed
firearms with a permit, there are still nearly two dozen areas where
they cannot carry legally permitted weapons.
Those places include public transportation, something Rowe tells
WMAY Springfield hurts the economically disadvantaged the most.
“They do have a right to carry outside their homes to protect
themselves and mass transportation, that is one of those areas that
is most dangerous,” Rowe said.
Rowe said concealed carry permit holders also should be allowed to
carry firearms at government-run rest stops along highways.
Meanwhile gun owners are expected to oppose extra taxes on firearms
and ammunition.
Rowe said Cook County has already passed an extra tax on ammunition
and firearms and there’s legislation she supports to reverse that
while also prohibiting the tax elsewhere throughout the state.
“The law-abiding gun owners who go through the process of legally
purchasing their firearms and purchasing their ammunition shouldn’t
be penalized because of the criminal element out there,” Rowe said.
Cook County has a $25 tax for every firearm purchased. Beginning
June 1 each cartridge purchased in the county will have an extra tax
ranging from a penny to a nickel per cartridge, which would increase
a standard case of 50 rounds by up to $2.50.
Gun owners plan to meet at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in
Springfield at noon Wednesday, where they will then march to the
Capitol to lobby lawmakers.
In 2014 Illinois became the last state in the country to allow for
citizens to carry firearms outside the home.
CHARTER SCHOOL NETWORK HAS CONCERNS ABOUT UNIONIZATION
While a charter school in Chicago is forming a union, the Illinois
Network of Charter Schools wants to ensure other unions don’t
impose.
Illinois law does not force a charter school to create a union, but
does allow for the option among members.
The Illinois Federation of Teachers touts the recent vote approving
a union for the Passages Charter School in the city’s West Edgewater
neighborhood. Workers voted to join the Alliance of Charter Teachers
and Staff Local 4343. However, Andrew Broy, president of the
Illinois Network of Charter Schools, has some concerns.
Broy said there could be problems if the Chicago Teachers Union
takes an interest in bargaining on behalf of charter school unions,
noting, “I think they will likely make it more of a political
statement than it will be a collaboration between teachers and
management, and that does worry us long term.”
Broy said unions representing teachers at charter schools should
work to retain flexibility to be innovative and to think about
different staffing structures. Broy added, “To the extent that a
union contract will prioritize a one-size-fits-all approach, that is
counter to the charter model.”
Broy also said charter schools should not work against their best
interests if a union is formed at a charter school.
“Provided that there’s an agreement to do it and the management and
labor can work together to maintain charter autonomy, then it can
work quite well,” Broy said.
Of the charters in Chicago, Broy said the majority have chosen to
remain independent of unions and only two of the 15 charters outside
of Chicago have a union.
Meanwhile Broy says 700 parents from across the state will be in
Springfield Wednesday to lobby lawmakers in support of more charter
school options.
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