Hospitals, insurers back state expansion

CHICAGO (AP) – Illinois lawmakers soon will face two critical decisions over how to fully carry out President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

With attention turning in 2013 to how states will implement the health law, Gov. Pat Quinn is pushing legislation to establish a state-run health insurance exchange to help middle-class citizens and small businesses, along with a multi-billion-dollar expansion of Medicaid to cover the poor. While the state’s Democratic leaders generally have supported the new health care law, neither proposal will be a slam dunk for passage.

Consumer groups and the insurance industry are warring over whether the state should be able to negotiate with insurers to get lower premiums for people participating in the health insurance exchange. It’s not clear where the governor stands, but it would be difficult to pass a bill over the industry’s objections.

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Drill

It was easy to get distracted by the performance of it all. The active shooter drill held by Sterling and County Police last week at the high school. The scenario; two armed shooters in the school killing students and teachers and the police and medical technician's response. It's an unfortunate drill, but a necessary one. In the hallways a Halloween mentality took over, especially when the ketchup-blood concoction was applied on the students. Small talk and "what I'm going to do" plans were passed around freely between laughs and odors of the sickly sweet blood stand-in. It was an odd contrast between real and imaginary, one I'm sure psychologists will explain to be a type of coping mechanism. I took these "portraits" of the injured and de

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