State Journal Register 

Letters to the Editor
Sunday, March 02, 2008

JCAR plays politics with health-care expansion

Once again, politics have trumped policy in Springfield, and the people of Illinois are the losers. The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules based their opposition to a governor-backed health-care expansion on procedural grounds. The real reason for the committee’s resistance has more to do with politics.

The legislature granted executive agencies rulemaking authority in 1975. Since then, the governor’s office has used this authority to create and expand state programs ranging from protecting the disabled to updating the insurance code.

The rule can be rejected only if JCAR finds it to constitute a threat to the public interest, safety or welfare. Recently, however, JCAR has been rejecting legitimate administration backed rules to rein in what they view as a rogue governor’s office.

The most recent rule to be rejected, proposed by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, has already expanded state health insurance coverage to an additional 3,300 working adults in Illinois. The department insists it has money in its budget to implement the expansion without requiring additional funds, and they have a track record of frugal and responsible spending.

Despite clear rulemaking authority, JCAR members insisted that the department overstepped its rights. They rejected the rule not on its merit, but on procedure.

There were steps the department could have taken to quell some JCAR concerns. There were elements of the rule JCAR did not object to, and the department could have worked to compromise. Instead, the department remained stubbornly steadfast, asserting it had the legal authority to adopt the rules as they stood.

The standoff, as expected, led to JCAR rejecting the rule. That means the short-side political game playing by the governor and legislators now leaves the fate of 3,300 newly insured Illinois residents in limbo.

Emily Miller
Staff attorney, Illinois PIRG
Chicago