In Illinois, Medicaid expansion sign-ups double predictions, By Carla K. Johnson (AP), July 20, 2015, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Illinois is among a dozen states where the number of new enrollees surpassed projections for the expansion of Medicaid under President Barack Obama’s health law. While the surge in sign-ups lifts the number of insured people, it has also stoked worries about the future cost to taxpayers. Illinois and Cook County eventually will have to bear 10 percent of the cost of expanding the safety-net insurance program for the poor. The federal government agreed to pay all costs for the expansion through 2016, but it will begin lowering its share in 2017. More than twice as many Illinois residents have enrolled under the expansion than was projected by former Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration. It expected 298,000 people to sign up in 2015, but 623,000 newly eligible Illinoisans enrolled by the end of June. Sign-ups have outstripped forecasts in at least a dozen states, according to a new analysis by The Associated Press…”
Tag: Illinois
Kids Count Report – Illinois
- Report: About 1 in 4 Rock Island County kids living in poverty, By Deirdre Baker, March 6, 2015, Quad-City Times: “An annual report that shows about 1 of every 4 Rock Island County children living in poverty stoked the ire of some area officials Thursday. According to Illinois Kids Count 2015, child poverty rates in the state remain higher than levels measured before the Great Recession that began during the previous decade and are much higher than in 2000…”
- Child poverty rising in DeKalb County, survey says, By Katie Dahlstrom, March 5, 2015, Daily Chronicle: “The number of DeKalb County children living in poverty nearly tripled from 1999 to 2012, child advocates said in a report released Thursday. Nearly 24 percent of DeKalb County children lived in poverty in 2012, the 2015 Illinois Kids Count Survey released by Voices for Illinois Children showed. The county is part of a growing trend in Illinois that is pushing poverty rates higher outside of the city of Chicago, said Director of Research Larry Joseph…”
Child Care Subsidies – Illinois
Money for Illinois child care subsidies is running dry, By Nancy Cambria, February 25, 2015, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “For more than two decades, the Leslie Bates Davis Neighborhood House’s early childhood center has beat back the effects of poverty on young children in this ailing city. The center operates in a once abandoned grocery store amid boarded-up businesses and crumbling sidewalks with the promise of the Gateway Arch in view from its parking lot. With the help of federal and state funds as well as fundraising, it has grown in size, quality and staffing to host a Head Start program and earn national accreditation. It serves nearly 150 children from some of the nation’s poorest households — with parents who count on the center to provide more than mere baby-sitting. ‘They know how important it is their children get early education so they are ready for school,’ said Stephanie Rhodes, a vice president with Leslie Bates Davis in charge of child care. As of this month, however, all of the progress made by the center and many others in Illinois is at risk…”