Last week, the State of Illinois proudly announced that it had finally paid its bills. The State sent 1.2 billion dollars to schools, hospitals, counseling/mental health centers, substance abuse treatment agencies, rehabiliation programs. The 1.2 billion was for money the State of Illinois owed from LAST fiscal year ending June 30th. The State of Illinois presently owes over 5 billion dollars (yes, BILLION) for services performed THIS fiscal year, and has not paid these bills.
The State of Illinois legislature and the Governor spent several weeks in Springfield recently. We paid their salaries and daily expenses for all that time. Did they work on paying what the State owes to people? No. Did they work on creating jobs for the unemployed? No. Did they try to help children and families who are hungry? No. Instead, the legislature and Governor spent all their time, and our money, on CIVIL UNIONS!
Recently, the "Chicago Sun-Times" wrote an article on the crisis in ERs (Emergency Rooms) in the Chicago area.Many of these ERs are often on "by-pass"(the ER is full and cannot take any ambulance patients). This is actually a nation-wide crisis. The problem is that because over a million people in Illinois do NOT have health care insurance, if they get sick or need medical help, where do they go? To the closest ER. Why? Because without insurance, no doctors or clinics will treat these people. Did our State government, many of them re-elected, work on this problem? No. Do they have any plans to do something about this health crisis? No.
People who have health insurance think,"this does not involve me; I have health insurance." Wrong! Even if you have health insurance, if the ER is full of people without insurance, you have to wait - hours!!!! - for treatment just like everyone else. Is there a solution? Yes, it is called JOBS! The elected officials in the State of Illinois should have one priority: getting people back to work! Is the State of Illinois doing this. No. Worse, the Governor announced this week that the State of Illinois "jobs program" is closing down. Apparently, the people in State government in Illinois thought you more concerned about Civil Unions than in being able to work and earn a living.