Dec 6, 2007 5:35 pm US/Central
Governor Defends Expansion Of State Health Care
Blagojevich Went Around Legislature To Provide Illinois Residents With Additional Care, But Has Not Said How It Will Be Paid For
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Gov. Rod Blagojevich, surrounded by cancer survivors and others, defended his expansion of taxpayer-funded health care.
CBS
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is defending his order that expands state-subsidized health care without legislative approval. But the plan has now triggered a lawsuit.
As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, the governor met Thursday with several women battling breast cancer, and responded to critics of the health plan.
Cynthia Irvin and other women battling breast cancer came to the news conference to thank Blagojevich for ordering that Illinois tax dollars pay for their treatment.
"I want to thank the governor and the state of Illinois, 'cause I don't know what would have happened to me if it wasn't for them," Irvin said.
The governor was showcasing the women's plight as an example of why he's ignoring the general assembly, which failed all year to approve his multi-billion dollar expansion of state-subsidized health insurance.
He's also preparing for a showdown in court next week with Republican businessman Ron Gidwitz and others who call the governor's expansion unconstitutional.
"It is… Scrooge-like in many ways," Blagojevich said.
A spokesperson for House Speaker Michael Madigan said the governor's focus on breast cancer and cervical cancer was misleading. He said that program was authorized by the general assembly about a decade ago. What was not authorized, he said, was the governor's unilateral order making 147,000 more people eligible for state taxpayer-paid health insurance.
"And when the general assembly refuses to pass laws that allow women like Cynthia to be able to get access to that fundamental kind of health care, then I take great pride in the fact that I go around the legislature to provide health care to women like her," Blagojevich said.
Huge amounts of tax dollars are at stake. A spokesperson for the governor this afternoon said that the breast and cervical cancer programs would cost about $50 million in this fiscal year, and $43 million in this fiscal year for other expanded health insurance programs.
Critics estimate that the total tab could be up to $367 million in a full year. Whatever the cost, the governor has not explained how the state is going to pay for all of this, and the general assembly has not appropriated money for it.
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