ILLINOIS GOVERNOR PUSHES PLAN TO HELP UNINSURED KIDS

After signing a state law offering low-cost medical coverage for most uninsured children in Illinois, Gov. Rod Blagojevich flew to Washington to push for broader health insurance coverage for children around the nation.

Blagojevich briefed fellow Democratic governors at a meeting in Washington on the Illinois program and spoke at a news conference organized to enhance nationwide support for better insurance coverage for children. Then he attended the announcement of proposed legislation to grant subsidies to states that create similar children’s insurance programs.

“Every single child ought to have health care,” Blagojevich said at a news conference organized by Families USA, a liberal healthcare advocacy group according to a Chicago Tribune account.

Illinois’ state-subsidized All Kids Health Plan, which becomes effective July 2006 in Illinois, will offer comprehensive medical insurance to all children in the state who have gone without insurance for at least 12 months. Families will pay premiums and co-payments based on their income.

The existing state health insurance program and federal subsidies are targeted to poor families.

But Blagojevich said the high cost of health insurance can place considerable burden on many working middle-class families. The Employee Benefits Research Institute found that more than 60 percent of children without insurance have at least one parent who works full-time year-round. They (parents) work, and despite their best efforts, they cannot take their children to the doctors. That’s not right in my view,” the governor said.