QUOTE
It’s Big-Issue Time
If Democrats want to draw a line between themselves and the Republicans on a topic people care about, they should look at the Illinois governor’s fresh approach to health care.
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: 5:33 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2005
Dec. 16, 2005 - Democrats are flailing around, unable to form a solid front on almost any issue. No wonder they’re unable to capitalize on the woes of President Bush. They haven’t offered anything of substance to capture the imagination of voters.
The debate in Washington is focused on Iraq, indictments and budget crunching, not on new ideas. But it’s different out in the states, where revenues are up and governors are taking on the big issues neglected by Washington, notably health care. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a moderate Democrat, was in Washington this week promoting his new “All Kids” program, which will provide health care for every child up to age 18 when it goes into effect on July 1, 2006.
Unlike the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), created by Congress in 1997 to provide coverage to children from low-income families that do not qualify for Medicaid, the All Kids plan is available to all regardless of income. “It’s not free, but it’s affordable,” Blagojevich told a crowded press conference. Monthly premiums start at $40, with a $10 copay for families earning between $40,000 and $60,000, and rise with income to where a family earning $99,000 would pay a $100 premium and $20 copay. The program covers kids with pre-existing conditions that other insurers turn down. Blagojevich noted that children in families with higher incomes would still be eligible including, he added in a friendly jab, “the child of a political consultant making millions of dollars.” Their rates would be comparable with the private insurance market.
For a party bereft of ideas, Blagojevich is worth listening to. His enthusiasm is contagious. He told NEWSWEEK that he feels like a method actor when he’s talking about his All Kids program because he is so focused on the role of advocating its adoption. He likens it to the movement for public education that was started by Horace Mann in Massachusetts and became a universally accepted right. “I believe in the long scope of history, we’re going to look back and say—‘Can you believe it was possible for children not to have health-care coverage,” he says. With his shock of black hair and cherubic face, he is reminiscent of another eager young governor, Bill Clinton circa ’92, even using much the same language about the forgotten middle-class that launched Clinton on the national scene.
A quarter of a million kids in Illinois don’t have health insurance, and at least half of them are in working families that make too much money to qualify for public assistance but not enough to afford private insurance. Blagojevich talks about people “who work hard and play by the rules” but can’t get ahead in a health-care system that is unyielding. He cited four examples of families that fall through the cracks. One had an income of $53,000 but with four children, including one with asthma, health insurance was prohibitive. Another set of parents worked 82 hours a week between them to bring in $36,000, too much to qualify their asthmatic toddler for public assistance. A third couple in suburbia had a combined income of $63,000, but their 6-year-old daughter’s pre-existing kidney ailment disqualified her from coverage. His last example was a single mother with one daughter who worked her way up from being a receptionist only to lose her subsidized health care. “The American Dream is about working hard and getting ahead. You shouldn’t be penalized,” he says. “Every parent should get everything the governor’s daughters get,” he added, including dental care and eye care. Blagojevich has two daughters, ages 8 and 2.
The Illinois legislature is controlled by Democrats, and every one of them voted for All Kids, but that doesn’t mean passage was easy. Funding was an issue. Blagojevich claims the premiums will pay for 75 percent of the costs; the rest of the first-year $45 million price tag will come from savings achieved through managed-care controls. Blagojevich says the gatekeepers will be primary-care physicians and that unlike commercial managed care, the savings will go to the state. Still, it took a series of special sessions and overtime legislative bartering for Blagojevich to bludgeon his own party into backing him, and he got only one Republican vote in the Senate, a woman who is an unelected replacement legislator.
If Democrats want to draw a bright line between themselves and the Republicans on an issue people care about, health care for children is a good place to start. Republicans in Illinois called All Kids welfare and questioned why the state should subsidize people making $70,000 a year. “Because the state is subsidizing you, and you make substantially more money,” Blagojevich says he responded, turning the question back on those asking it. His confrontational governing style has made him his share of enemies, including among those who were his friends. A prosecuting attorney in Chicago before he went into politics, Blagojevich enjoyed heavy financial support from trial lawyers. But after he was elected and faced with doctors leaving the state because of high malpractice insurance, he supported caps on malpractice awards. “From a political standpoint, it was a difficult decision,” he says. “From a moral standpoint, it was easy.” That’s the kind of tradeoff rarely made in Washington.
If Democrats want to draw a line between themselves and the Republicans on a topic people care about, they should look at the Illinois governor’s fresh approach to health care.
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: 5:33 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2005
Dec. 16, 2005 - Democrats are flailing around, unable to form a solid front on almost any issue. No wonder they’re unable to capitalize on the woes of President Bush. They haven’t offered anything of substance to capture the imagination of voters.
The debate in Washington is focused on Iraq, indictments and budget crunching, not on new ideas. But it’s different out in the states, where revenues are up and governors are taking on the big issues neglected by Washington, notably health care. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a moderate Democrat, was in Washington this week promoting his new “All Kids” program, which will provide health care for every child up to age 18 when it goes into effect on July 1, 2006.
Unlike the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), created by Congress in 1997 to provide coverage to children from low-income families that do not qualify for Medicaid, the All Kids plan is available to all regardless of income. “It’s not free, but it’s affordable,” Blagojevich told a crowded press conference. Monthly premiums start at $40, with a $10 copay for families earning between $40,000 and $60,000, and rise with income to where a family earning $99,000 would pay a $100 premium and $20 copay. The program covers kids with pre-existing conditions that other insurers turn down. Blagojevich noted that children in families with higher incomes would still be eligible including, he added in a friendly jab, “the child of a political consultant making millions of dollars.” Their rates would be comparable with the private insurance market.
For a party bereft of ideas, Blagojevich is worth listening to. His enthusiasm is contagious. He told NEWSWEEK that he feels like a method actor when he’s talking about his All Kids program because he is so focused on the role of advocating its adoption. He likens it to the movement for public education that was started by Horace Mann in Massachusetts and became a universally accepted right. “I believe in the long scope of history, we’re going to look back and say—‘Can you believe it was possible for children not to have health-care coverage,” he says. With his shock of black hair and cherubic face, he is reminiscent of another eager young governor, Bill Clinton circa ’92, even using much the same language about the forgotten middle-class that launched Clinton on the national scene.
A quarter of a million kids in Illinois don’t have health insurance, and at least half of them are in working families that make too much money to qualify for public assistance but not enough to afford private insurance. Blagojevich talks about people “who work hard and play by the rules” but can’t get ahead in a health-care system that is unyielding. He cited four examples of families that fall through the cracks. One had an income of $53,000 but with four children, including one with asthma, health insurance was prohibitive. Another set of parents worked 82 hours a week between them to bring in $36,000, too much to qualify their asthmatic toddler for public assistance. A third couple in suburbia had a combined income of $63,000, but their 6-year-old daughter’s pre-existing kidney ailment disqualified her from coverage. His last example was a single mother with one daughter who worked her way up from being a receptionist only to lose her subsidized health care. “The American Dream is about working hard and getting ahead. You shouldn’t be penalized,” he says. “Every parent should get everything the governor’s daughters get,” he added, including dental care and eye care. Blagojevich has two daughters, ages 8 and 2.
The Illinois legislature is controlled by Democrats, and every one of them voted for All Kids, but that doesn’t mean passage was easy. Funding was an issue. Blagojevich claims the premiums will pay for 75 percent of the costs; the rest of the first-year $45 million price tag will come from savings achieved through managed-care controls. Blagojevich says the gatekeepers will be primary-care physicians and that unlike commercial managed care, the savings will go to the state. Still, it took a series of special sessions and overtime legislative bartering for Blagojevich to bludgeon his own party into backing him, and he got only one Republican vote in the Senate, a woman who is an unelected replacement legislator.
If Democrats want to draw a bright line between themselves and the Republicans on an issue people care about, health care for children is a good place to start. Republicans in Illinois called All Kids welfare and questioned why the state should subsidize people making $70,000 a year. “Because the state is subsidizing you, and you make substantially more money,” Blagojevich says he responded, turning the question back on those asking it. His confrontational governing style has made him his share of enemies, including among those who were his friends. A prosecuting attorney in Chicago before he went into politics, Blagojevich enjoyed heavy financial support from trial lawyers. But after he was elected and faced with doctors leaving the state because of high malpractice insurance, he supported caps on malpractice awards. “From a political standpoint, it was a difficult decision,” he says. “From a moral standpoint, it was easy.” That’s the kind of tradeoff rarely made in Washington.