November 2005

In an impressive display of just how much government can accomplish quickly when the powers that be are all on the same page, Governor Blagojevich announced the All Kids program of universal health insurance for Illinois children on October 16, 2005. Just a few weeks later the General Assembly passed implementing legislation (HB 806) in a matter of two and a half days.

Real people, real lives, real struggles, and real losses—that’s what the task force members are hearing about as they visit communities throughout the state. At the first five of some 20 public hearings the task force has set through April 2006, task force members heard from hundreds about the realities of Illinois’s fragmented health care system.

For the last several years, the federal Housing Choice Voucher, or Section 8, program faced a barrage of fiscal and programmatic attacks from the Bush administration. The new officials at HUD do not seem to believe in subsidized housing for very low-income families or the basic concept of government stepping up to serve as a safety net for those in need.

A new children’s health care initiative addresses deep problems that surfaced in a court decision called Memisovski v. Maram. The State of Illinois’s initiative aims to improve preventive health care for children on Medicaid.

A U.S. House of Representatives bill, H.R. 1461, the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2005, would restrict the ability of nonprofit organizations to engage in voter registration or other get-out-the-vote activities.

Recognizing the importance of staying healthy to be happy and succeed in school, Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s new All Kids program is the first comprehensive health coverage program in the country.