(WJBC file photo )
By Illinois News Network
SPRINGFIELD – Nearly one-fifth of the Illinois General Assembly is refusing to accept health insurance benefits from the state as Illinois taxpayers spent $1.23 million last year to provide the perk.
Republican State Rep. David McSweeney, who joins 33 other lawmakers in refusing to accept the offered health insurance benefits, said there’s no reason for the benefits at a time when the state is hurting financially.
McSweeney said the perk should at least be scaled back, if not eliminated. The perk is so generous it is considered a “Cadillac plan” under the Affordable Care Act and in 2018 the state could begin paying an excise tax to the federal government for the benefits.
Longtime Democratic Rep. Mary Flowers, who makes over $78,000 a year and receives the health insurance benefit, said she couldn’t afford to buy insurance on her own.
An Illinois News Network analysis of legislator insurance benefits found that the 143 lawmakers who get the benefit contributed a combined $251,000 toward their premiums while taxpayers paid the rest to the tune of over $1.2 million.
