The Illinois Senate on Wednesday handed Gov. Blagojevich a solid vote in favor of his signature plan to provide health-care insurance to all of the state’s uninsured children, over the objections of Republicans who wanted more details.
The All Kids program is likely to come up in the House of Representatives as early as Thursday for what is expected to be another approval by a Democratic majority, the result of a hard and heavy press by Blagojevich and the potential popularity of the program in next year’s elections.
The bill leaves the nuts-and-bolts decisions of the All Kids operation to the authority of Blagojevich’s Department of Healthcare and Family Services, whose officials will determine specific eligibility rules, procedures for enrollment and performance standards for contractors.
Even with many details yet to be decided, the broad strokes of the plan were enough for a majority of senators to vote for the All Kids proposal, which would offer coverage even for children whose parents make too much money to qualify for public aid.
The Democratic-controlled Senate approved the measure on a largely partisan 32-23 vote after an emotional debate in which lawmakers repeatedly referred to the estimated 250,000 Illinois children who don’t have health insurance.
