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| Blue Cross Blue Shield for Illinois Workers |
(IRN)-A bi-partisan, bi-cameral group of lawmakers say a state contract to Blue Cross Blue Shield for state workers' health insurance is based on an inaccurate study.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued an opinion Wednesday that says the state's Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, or COGFA, should do its own analysis. Madigan said the contract can't move forward without the approval of COGFA, a group that's expected to meet early next week.
State Representative Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) says the study the governor used to show that the contract would save the state money is based on poor assumptions. "These are huge errors," said Rose. "It goes exactly to what we've been saying as a bi-partisan coalition of the House and the Senate all along, which is far from savings, this will cost the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars more than we're currently paying."
Rose says there's another issue at stake, Blue Cross Blue Shield has doctors in only 38 of the state's 102 counties. He says a lot of Downstate counties are being left out of the loop if this contract stays in place. "These are real people. You are playing with people's lives," he said.
Rose says the governor can stop the efforts of the many lawmakers opposed to the contract by simply pulling the contract. Still, he says the decision by Madigan to provide COGFA with some say is good news. "I suspect when you get to COGFA, you'll have a majority of members say, ‘no governor, you're wrong," he said.
(Source: Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 05 20 11 by Newsroom |
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