By IL Public Radio/KWMU
Springfield, ILL. – More low-income families in Illinois will soon be eligible for health care.
Governor Rod Blagojevich signed into law Tuesday an expansion of the state's FamilyCare and KidCare programs.
The governor says 20,000 additional children and 65,000 more families will be able to get health benefits. He also says previous administrations didn't make healthcare a top priority. "Being governor you ahve a lot more say in terms of the priorities," Blagojevich said. "And so we made if very clear, not withstanding a historic budget crisis, we were going to set the right priorities and invest the money.
The new law will cost Illinois about $26 million dollars a year; the federal government will chip in $48 million.