[HotAir] That's $1.6 billion in taxpayer money, of course. Not J.B. Pritzker's money. And this comes from program auditors via the Chicago Tribune, not Elon Musk or DOGE.
It sounds as though Illinois could use a DOGE team or three, though:
Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration vastly underestimated the cost and popularity of a pair of health insurance programs for immigrants who are not citizens that has ended up costing the state $1.6 billion since the initiative began in 2020, according to an audit report released Wednesday.
Aside from inaccurate projections of the programs’ cost and the number of people who would enroll, the audit uncovered more than 6,000 people enrolled in the programs who were listed as “undocumented” despite having Social Security numbers, and nearly 700 who were enrolled in the program for people 65 and older despite being younger than that. In addition, almost 400 people were enrolled in the programs but appeared to have been in the country long enough to qualify for Medicaid, which is jointly funded by the federal government.
First question: why did it take five years to do an audit? Bear in mind that the original program was aimed only at senior-age immigrants who couldn't qualify for Medicaid based on federal rules for eligibility. That made at least some sense as long as costs could be controlled, especially in the context of the pandemic in 2020. Several states considered emergency expansion of health-care benefits to help keep the pandemic under control among the most at-risk population.
However, as the Trib notes, Pritzker expanded the program twice since then to include more immigrant non-citizens. Instead of just covering senior-age immigrants during an emergency, it now uses taxpayer funds to cover health costs from people as young as 42 years of age. Why would they need such benefits rather than do what taxpayers do -- work and pay for their coverage on their own.
Plus, the pandemic has been over for at least three years, and arguably four. Shouldn't Pritzker's administration have been auditing this program all along? And failing that, why did they not audit the program before expanding it? Twice?
And it's not as if the program ran without sending up any red flags during that time, either:
This state-run health care initiative has been expanded twice and now covers those 42 and older. The ballooning costs iof the program complicated budget negotiations two years ago. ...
But the costs for the programs eventually spiraled upward and the issue has roiled the General Assembly in recent years. In February 2023, Pritzker took steps to curtail enrollment in the programs after his administration an initial cost estimate from his administration of $220 million swelled fivefold three months later to $1.1 billion. Ultimately, a little over $500 million was set aside in the budget that passed by the legislature that spring.
So the Illinois legislature knew that costs for this program had ballooned far beyond expectations, and ... no one in leadership thought to ask why. These weren't normal program cost overruns; this welfare expansion cost five times what Pritzker had projected while creating the program. And it still took nearly two years before Pritzker's administration bothered to audit the program and determine that taxpayers were getting soaked.
This goes beyond incompetence. It qualifies for dereliction of duty. In a state with a competitive political environment, it would cost politicians their jobs. That won't happen in Illinois, where Democrats have a stranglehold on state government.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has once again found herself at the center of controversy as she desperately tried to explain her absence during the wildfires that ravaged her city.
As the deadly Palisades Fire began to burn, Bass had been on a trip to Ghana representing the Biden administration.
Standing firm that she was unaware of the fire risks when she left to go abroad, the mayor doubled down on Wednesday, assuring reporters once again that she came back home as soon as she could.
'You do gain time coming back, but I will tell you that it's not like there are hourly flights from Accra, Ghana, to the United States,' Bass said.
Despite her remarks, the mayor received harsh backlash when she was pictured at a cocktail party at the US Embassy while wildfires began to destroy the Pacific Palisades.
Bass, who recently fired Chief Kristin Crowley over her response to the wildfires, previously said that no one informed her of the fire risks and has stood firm that if she had known, she wouldn't have gone on the trip.
'We need to look at everything about the preparation and all of that for the fires... I think when we evaluate that, we will find that although there were warnings - that I frankly wasn't aware of.'
'I think our preparation wasn't what it typically is... That level of preparation really didn't happen. If it had, I wouldn't even have gone to San Diego, let alone leave the country,' she said in an interview.
Los Angeles officials have been under scrutiny for the devastating wildfires that killed at least 28 people and demolished over 19,000 homes across the city.
Authorities have continued to play the blame game, with Bass accusing Crowley of failing to properly staff the disaster, while the United Firefighters of LA hit back that the unused firetrucks didn't have working engines.
Bass cited the unused firetrucks as Crowley's reason for dismissal, writing in a scathing statement, 'Acting in the best interests of Los Angeles' public safety, and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department, I have removed Kristin Crowley as Fire Chief.'
'We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley's watch.
'Furthermore, a necessary step to an investigation was the President of the Fire Commission telling Chief Crowley to do an after action report on the fires. The Chief refused. These require her removal.'
Crowley broke her silence the following day, saying it was an 'absolute honor' to represent the LAFD, but didn't address Bass or the controversy directly.
Since her removal, firefighters have rallied around Crowley, with many claiming the move was to take the heat off Bass.
'It's really simple, Crowley was afraid of getting blamed so she threw Bass under the bus. Then Bass retaliated against her and threw Crowley under the bus,' a veteran firefighter previously told the DailyMail.com.
President of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City echoed a similar belief, claiming Crowley was, 'a scapegoat to distract from the failure of the city and complete neglect of the fire department.'
'We don't have enough firefighters, not enough working rigs, broken down fire hydrants and a water supply that ran dry, but Chief Crowley is the one who gets terminated? It doesn't make sense.'
The back and forth between Bass and Crowley began before the wildfires that ravaged the city when the former fire chief accused the city of slashing their budget.
Bass approved budget cuts of $17.6 million in December, prompting Crowley to write her a memo that warned the cuts would, 'severely limited the department's capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.'
Dailymail.com previously revealed a second memo written the day before the fires alleging further cuts to the tune of $49 million.
Crowley had been outspoken about how the cuts impacted the LAFD and frequently called out the mayor's office publicly for underfunding the department.
Even though they both claimed to be working together amicably, the public rift was undeniable.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/28/2025 4:54 Comments ||
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#3
'You do gain time coming back, but I will tell you that it's not like there are hourly flights from Accra, Ghana, to the United States,' Bass said.
That's retarded.
Both of them were doing exactly what was expected of them when put into their respective positions.
'I think our preparation wasn't what it typically is... That level of preparation really didn't happen. If it had, I wouldn't even have gone to San Diego, let alone leave the country,' she said in an interview.
[FoxNews] Republican Rep. Andy Ogles is working on the Preventing Epstein Documentation Obliteration (PEDO) Act
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., is preparing legislation to safeguard the FBI’s Jeffrey Epstein files, citing concerns that some documents at the bureau were in danger of being destroyed.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the government was in possession of "pretty sick" information on the late convicted pedophile, during an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters on Wednesday. She said documents could be released as early as Thursday.
"Should you encounter any statutory barriers to the expeditious public release of Jeffrey Epstein’s client list or other pertinent information related to his activities – to include circumstances in which any such documentation is housed in other federal agencies – I stand ready to assist," Ogles wrote to Bondi in a memo on Wednesday.
"To that end, upon hearing reports that certain FBI agents are allegedly attempting to destroy critical records, I am currently drafting legislation entitled the Preventing Epstein Documentation Obliteration Act, or the PEDO Act."
The legislation, which is still in the works, would protect all files across Bondi’s jurisdiction.
Ogles did not cite the names of any specific agents. He’s the latest Republican lawmaker to speak out about the Epstein files this week, after the House announced the creation of a new task force led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., dedicated to declassification efforts.
It comes after conservative influencer Benny Johnson reported on whistleblower allegations that there were rank-and-file agents within the FBI destroying documents in a bid to block FBI Director Kash Patel’s work.
#7
The Dog Probably Ate the Jeffrey Epstein files - James Kunstler this am.
Whatever "files" do get released will be as important as a dog's breakfast.
Illinois Mayor Tiffany Henyard’s alleged misuse of tax-payer dollars:
• $100,000 spent on travel in just five months. • $9,000 billed to Thornton Township for a January Mayors trip in Washington, D.C. • $374,000 for three SUVs • $24,000… https://t.co/72QdXVFnNxpic.twitter.com/0LgSvPt7ZO
#9
This is just another entitled gold digging female who simply moved from finding a rich simp to support her lifestyle to finding a position that gets you the same benefits. Instead of f*ing over one person, she chose to do it to taxpayers. Voters going their own way, VGTOW.
[X] Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick just announced plans to use the Postal Service to conduct the Census instead of wasting billions.
USPS workers will also replace 20,000 Social Security workers.
"We spend $40 billion every 10 years doing the census. And that means we hire 625,000 people. And they go, and they rent cars and gas, and you pay them food... They go to every household and count the people."
"What department do we already have that already employs 625,000 people? It's got cars, already has gas, and goes to every household. [Answer: USPS]."
"They can go to your house when you have a baby and give you the form for Social Security. And the 20,000 Social Security officers that we have, we just don't need them. We actually can do real customer service."
"Let's use the assets of the government to make us better and save us money."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2025 00:00 ||
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[11138 views]
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#1
Clean house before that happens.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/28/2025 4:46 Comments ||
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#2
Given, the Postal Union leans Left-Democrat.
I expect ILLEGALS to be counted and other demographics to be undercounted.
As it would help certain (D) Congressional redistricting and Agenda issues.
#8
The Postal Service is already involved in the census. They deliver the census forms to the households and pick up the completed forms and deliver them for processing.
If the form is not returned, a census worker goes to the location to verify if anyone is there and interviews them as to the number of occupants. Sometimes, this means working outside normal business hours. Census workers do *not* go to every household in America.
The census workers get a few hours training on filling out forms, the minutia of federal privacy laws and how to deal with mass dwellings like jails, homeless shelters and migrant housing. They are paid hourly + IRS rates for mileage.
tl;dr: Postal workers already have jobs
What's the scoop on Lutnik? In addition to having questionable ideas, he gives off a late-night TV huckster vibe. "But wait, there's more!"
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
