Illinois Task Force Targets Waste In Health Care Programs

health care image
Thinkstock
health care image
Thinkstock

Illinois Task Force Targets Waste In Health Care Programs

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

CHICAGO (AP) — A task force created by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to find waste in Illinois taxpayer-funded health care programs is making a report.

Rauner established the task force in April and it’s making a report Wednesday in Chicago. It has studied the best practices of agency fraud prevention units, the federal government, other state governments and the private sector.

Illinois has removed about 6,000 dependents from the State Employee Group Insurance Program for eligibility issues such as divorced spouses and adult children. That reaped a $20 million savings last fiscal year.

However, the group health insurance plans haven’t been paid in more than a year because of the ongoing state budget crisis. In Illinois, state employee health insurance benefits cost taxpayers about $3 billion a year.