THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...Freezing undocumented health care program...Choate...Abortion...
June 19, 2023
Good morning, Illinois.
Between a three hour delay at the Dublin airport Saturday, a 3:45am wakeup with a jet lagged toddler yesterday, and everything else one does to reacclimate to society after 9 days in another country, it didn’t feel a lot like a nice, relaxing Father’s Day yesterday. I hope you had one.
We’re glad to be back this week and we’ll be getting into the swing of things with a full newsletter tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.
Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets, but know good journalism isn’t free)
With costs soaring, Gov. J.B. Pritzker to close enrollment for many in insurance program for immigrants (Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration will close enrollment for a state-funded health insurance program for immigrants under 65 who are in the country without legal permission, and cap enrollment for those 65 and older, after ballooning costs forced last-minute compromises on the state budget.
The move drew a swift rebuke from Latino legislators and an immigrant health care advocacy group that blasted it as “immoral and fiscally short-sighted.”
The budget proposal Pritzker introduced in February included $220 million for the program, but by early May projections had swelled to $1.1 billion for the coming year as enrollment continued to outstrip expectations.
To close the deal on the state’s $50.4 billion budget, Pritzker struck a deal with the Democratic-controlled General Assembly that allocated $550 million for the program and gave his administration “tools” to control its cost. The second-term Democratic governor essentially agreed to assume the political liability for restricting access to the program after declaring a year ago that “everyone, regardless of documentation status, deserves access to holistic health care coverage.”
The changes, which take effect with the start of the state’s new budget year July 1, also include copays for emergency room and inpatient services when the state can’t receive matching funds from the federal government.
State Rep. Edgar Gonzalez of Chicago, who represents the Little Village neighborhood and serves as Latino Caucus whip for the House Democrats, said he was “extremely disappointed in this course of action.”
“It doesn’t just affect Latinos — it affects all of Illinois,” Gonzalez, who voted in favor of the measure that gave the Pritzker administration the power to make changes to the program, said in a text message. “You would think after years in a global pandemic that the state would understand firsthand what lack of health care does to vulnerable populations.”
The Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus issued a statement Friday urging those who are currently eligible for the program to sign up before the rolls are closed next month.
Created in 2020, the program originally provided Medicaid-style coverage to immigrants 65 and older who are in the country without legal permission or who have green cards but haven’t completed a five-year waiting period and are therefore ineligible for the traditional health insurance program for the poor, which is jointly funded by the federal government.
Since then, the program has been expanded twice, and it now covers those 42 and older.
Shocked, just shocked (not really) that Democrats would only give the Governor half of the money for the program and be surprised he’s making cuts.
Related: Illinois will freeze enrollment for noncitizen health care program (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Health care workers who cover up patient abuse face stiffer penalties under new law (Capitol News Illinois)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law on Friday that strengthens the range of penalties that a state watchdog can mete out for health care employees who conspire to hide abuse or interfere with investigations by the state police or internal oversight bodies.
The legislation was introduced following an investigative series by Capitol News Illinois, Lee Enterprises Midwest and ProPublica into rampant abuses and cover-ups at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center, a state-run institution in southern Illinois that houses people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental illnesses. The new law applies to employees at state-run institutions and at privately operated community agencies for people with developmental disabilities and mental illnesses that operate under the oversight of the Illinois Department of Human Services and its Office of the Inspector General.
The news organizations detailed how employees had lied to investigators, leaked sensitive investigative details, retaliated against people who reported abuse and sought to indoctrinate new workers into the cover-up culture. Employees who engaged in such actions made it difficult to pursue cases of patient abuse, yet they rarely faced serious consequences. IDHS Inspector General Peter Neumer suggested the change in law last year.
The new law allows the OIG to report workers who engage in such misconduct to Illinois’ existing Health Care Worker Registry, which would bar them from working in any health care setting in the state.
The registry identifies any health care worker who has been barred from working with vulnerable populations in any long-term care setting, such as state-operated developmental centers or group homes. Under prior law, workers could be barred because they had been found to have engaged in financial exploitation; neglect that is considered “egregious”; or physical or sexual abuse. The new law adds “material obstruction” of an investigation to the list of findings that can be reported to the registry, which is maintained by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Pritzker signed the bill on the same day the IDHS inspector general released a 34-page report that recommended a “top to bottom analysis” of all processes related to the reporting of abuse and neglect at Choate “because at the present time there appear to be fundamental problems with all aspects of that system.”
The OIG report referenced the beating of a patient with a developmental disability by Choate staff in December 2014 that was covered by the news outlets. Four mental health technicians were charged with felonies in connection to the beating. Three of them pleaded guilty to failing to comply with abuse reporting laws for state employees, and one — Mark Allen, a mental health technician who had been originally charged with felony aggravated battery — pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of justice.
The report noted that at least eight people colluded to obstruct the state police and OIG investigation. Few staff members were forthcoming with details, even though they later told investigators it was the worst case of abuse they had ever seen.
“This was a textbook example of a code of silence, in which staff seek to protect each other from the consequences of their misconduct by remaining silent about what they witnessed or lying to protect their fellow employees,” the new OIG report stated. While Allen was ultimately reported to the registry after the inspector general found him responsible for the abuse, the other three were not. Even though they were criminally convicted of failing to report what they’d witnessed, and the inspector general found that they had engaged in the cover-up, prior law did not include obstruction as a reportable offense.
Related: Editorial: Another shocking government failure in Illinois (Champaign News-Gazette)
One year post-Roe, a wave of abortion providers has come to Illinois. A doctor at one new clinic calls the work ‘life-changing.’ (Chicago Tribune)
The patient narratives were displayed on a screen in the lobby of the new central Illinois abortion clinic on a recent weekend.
One abortion seeker traveled hundreds of miles from Florida to end a 22-week pregnancy following a birth control failure.
“I have infant twins and my previous birth/labor was so traumatic,” the patient said. “I could not handle postpartum depression with twins and a newborn.”
Another came from Kentucky at 19 weeks pregnant, citing worsening depression that had spiraled into suicidal thoughts.
Both terminated their pregnancies at Equity Clinic in Champaign, which was founded in February by an Ohio-based physician to improve abortion access amid waning options in his state as well as much of the Midwest and South.
Illinois has seen a surge in out-of-state abortion seekers in the last year, with some providers predicting as many as 20,000 to 30,000 additional patients would be traveling here each year to terminate pregnancies post-Roe.
The 2019 Reproductive Health Act declared abortion a “fundamental right” in Illinois, which has long been considered an oasis of abortion care in Middle America.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois, which has 17 clinics across the state, reported a 54% increase in abortion patients since Roe’s demise; nearly a quarter of patients traveled from another state, compared with 7% when Roe was still intact. The number of patients in need of financial support or assistance with travel has more than doubled in the past year, the agency said in a statement.
“Life changing” is one way to put it.
Related: Illinois continues to enact abortion protections a year after Roe v. Wade reversal (WBEZ)
POLITICAL POTPOURRI
In response to Highland Park mass shooting, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs bill allowing police to use drones at parades and other public events (Chicago Tribune)
The fine print of Illinois’ ban on book bans (WBEZ)
Businessman James T. Weiss guilty of bribing 2 state lawmakers, lying to the FBI (Chicago Sun-Times)
Trial of Chicago businessman James Weiss: Evidence seen and heard by the jury (Chicago Tribune)
Legislative watchdog Michael McCuskey sees job as educational opportunity (Capitol News Illinois)
Renovations to Capitol's north wing harken back to earlier days (State Journal-Register)
Photos: Construction crews 'exposing the bones' of state Capitol as renovations continue (Capitol News Illinois)
Decatur Republican Regan Deering announces statehouse bid (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Editorial: More time to go after pandemic relief scammers is a good step (Chicago Sun-Times)
Editorial: Former Chicago IG Joe Ferguson sounds the alarm on police reform. He’s right to do so. (Chicago Tribune)
Vallas: The city won’t address crime as long as CTU stands in the way of making education about children (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: Here’s a new way for Illinois to put more money into our colleges and universities (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: Tanned and rested, former governor presents a new image (Champaign News-Gazette)
Opinion: Rauner’s return a chance to reflect on legacy, lessons (Shaw Media)
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