Business group sues over governor's health care plan

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's plan for a multimillion-dollar expansion of a health care program without legislative approval has landed the state in court, with a business group claiming in a lawsuit Tuesday that it would be unconstitutional to spend the money.

"The message ultimately, when it's played out, will be: 'We've got a constitution; Governor, obey the constitution,' " said businessman Ron Gidwitz, chairman of the Illinois Coalition for Jobs, Growth and Prosperity, the group that filed the lawsuit.

Blagojevich has embarked on a piecemeal expansion of government-subsidized health care since lawmakers failed to support his plan to pay the huge cost of ensuring that everyone in Illinois has access to affordable insurance.

As part of that expansion, the Blagojevich administration has said it intends to go ahead with plans to add about 147,000 parents and caretakers to the Family Care insurance program, despite the objections of lawmakers.

A bipartisan legislative committee last month rejected the administration's proposal to operate an expanded Family Care program. But Blagojevich contends the legislature's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules didn't have the constitutional authority to block the rule to expand the program, which has an expected cost of $43 million this year.

Blagojevich is making promises he may not be able to keep, the business coalition contends. People might sign up for health care that is never delivered and hospitals might provide services for which they aren't reimbursed.

They want a judge to stop the state from expanding the program or spending any money on it.

"Every Democratic leader in Illinois should join us in fighting this lawsuit and help protect the hardworking people who rely on us for health coverage so they can keep seeing a doctor," Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said in an e-mail.

The business group, whose founding members include the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, said it filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Sangamon County. The lawsuit names Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Barry Maram and state Comptroller Daniel Hynes as defendants.

Gidwitz, a former Republican candidate for governor, said Maram and Hynes were named in the lawsuit -- and not Blagojevich -- because they would carry out the governor's directive to expand the Family Care program.

A Hynes spokeswoman said in an e-mail that they were reviewing the lawsuit and had no further comment.

The Blagojevich administration has argued it has the power to raise eligibility levels for the program. It wants to expand income eligibility to almost $83,000, from $38,000, for a family of four. The state had already signed up 500 families by last month.

Democratic state Rep. John Fritchey of Chicago, a member of the legislative panel that rebuffed Blagojevich's move to expand the program, said it's important the governor wasn't named in the lawsuit.

"This is not about personalities or politics, but about the sanctity of the process and the constitutionality of the administration's attempt to drastically expand health care without the consent of the legislature," said Fritchey, who has been critical of the governor's move.

Greg Baise, treasurer of the business group and head of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association, said the lawsuit isn't about opposing health care, but about how the Blagojevich administration does things.

"We certainly agree with the governor that health care is an important issue, but he can't unilaterally decide to expand a government program," Baise said.

The state has also expanded its breast and cervical cancer screening program to cover all women without insurance, and Blagojevich has detailed plans to expand the state's health insurance coverage for sick or injured young adults after coverage through All Kids ends on their 19th birthday.