Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) is moving forward with a proposed expansion of FamilyCare, a state program that subsidizes health care for families, despite a vote last week by a legislative oversight panel to block the plan, the Chicago Tribune reports. The Blagojevich administration has told state agencies that FamilyCare is being expanded, and they already have begun signing up new beneficiaries. The expansion could reach 147,000 people.

Under the expansion, eligibility would be extended to families of four with annual incomes up to $82,600. Currently, families with annual incomes up to $38,202 are eligible for the program. The panel, in voting against the plan, questioned how the state would pay for an expansion.

Blagojevich spokesperson Abby Ottenhoff said that the panel does not have the legal authority to block the plan. "(The panel's) role is merely advisory," Ottenhoff on Friday wrote in an e-mail response to the Tribune, adding, "It does not have the constitutional authority to suspend the regulation." However, the Tribune reports that state lawmakers "who thought they had blocked the governor last week were caught off guard by Blagojevich's decision to press ahead despite the rejection."

State Rep. Lou Lang (D) said, "If indeed the governor believes that (the panel) does not exist without constitutional underpinnings, why did he bother to go to (there) at all? And why do any of his agencies go (there) for rule changes?" (Long/Mendell, Chicago Tribune, 11/18).

Opinion Piece
"State-by-state efforts," including Blagojevich's, "to subsidize insurance coverage for working families are only deepening America's health care dilemma instead of providing a solution," John McCarron, a writer, teacher and consultant on urban affairs, writes in a Tribune opinion piece, adding that although "every family ought to have access to affordable care, trying to solve the problem by taxing and spending for more insurance is like pouring gas on a fire."

McCarron writes that the "central and inescapable problem with medical care in the United States is, simply, that it costs too much," and the "cost is growing a lot faster than the economy as a whole." He concludes that Blagojevich is right "to seek health care for all" but that it is "going to require something more than insurance: political courage" (McCarron, Chicago Tribune, 11/19).