It appears Democratic leaders in Springfield will seek legislative approval for a Medicaid expansion under the nation's health care law. But a northern Illinois Republican says GOP lawmakers will put up a fight.The Affordable Care Act says the federal government will provide subsidies for states that want to expand their programs. All of the costs will be covered by the feds for the first few years. After that, the subsidies begin to drop, ultimately falling to 90-percent.
But Senator Dave Syverson of Rockford says just taking on a small portion of the costs would be too much for Illinois to deal with, given its fiscal problems.
"We can't afford a system that's growing at an extremely fast rate, and so to take on anything that would increase the liability would be a disaster for Illinois" Syverson said.
Illinois is in the process of reducing Medicaid spending under a plan approved by lawmakers earlier this year. But Democratic leaders say the state shouldn't pass an opportunity from the federal government to provide residents more access to health-care coverage.