Tax dollars to pay high-end health care plans for state employees are held up in limbo and one health care analyst says it’s a result of a government not living within its means.
Dan Long, executive director for the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, says the backlog of bills for state employee health care plans has surpassed $2 billion.
Goldwater Institute Health Policy Director Naomi Lopez-Bauman says the backlog is a result of a state overspending.
Lopez-Bauman also says taxpayers are on the hook for a lot of the health care costs for state employees’ higher-end plans taxpayers couldn’t afford for themselves.
In other State news, several measures supporters say will drive value for taxpayers by addressing some consolidation recommendations has bipartisan support.
Among the four measures introduced Friday includes a bill to allow for voter referendum to consolidate governments while another would allow for easier township consolidations. Republican Senator Michael Connelly says businesses do what they can to find cost savings every year, something they hope to replicate in government.
Democratic Representative Jack Franks says lawmakers may not agree on all of the proposals, but there are things they can find common ground on because the current system of 7,000 units of government in Illinois is too bloated and unaccountable.
