A statewide concern: Illinois’ population decline outpaces neighboring states – Wirepoints on ABC20 Champaign
“We are not in good shape” Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski told ABC 20 Champaign during a segment on Illinois’ latest population losses. Illinois was one of just three states to shrink in the 2010-2020 period and has lost another 300,000 people since then. Ted says things need to change. “It’s too expensive to live here, there aren’t enough good jobs and nobody trusts the government anymore. There’s just other places to go where you can be more satisfied.”
Mark, you do realize that Chicago and Illinois public employees hired before 1986 are not entitled to Medicare, because they (and the state) did not contribute to it? It is one thing to cut healthcare for retirees who are Medicare-eligible, like basically everyone in the private sector. But doing so for those ineligible for Medicare is so extreme that I really don’t think that even a bankruptcy judge would allow that – it would basically be a death sentence.
Yes, I am mostly on your side on that. I am not fully up to speed on exactly who would not be Medicare eligible, but that is critical. To me, it’s just another reason to deal with the whole pension and fiscal mess as rapidly and comprehensively as possible. Time makes it worse and genuine humanitarian issues loom. It’s not a binary issue, though. Exactly how much pensioners should be expected to pay and for how much coverage they should get are fair questions. And it’s another reason why, in the case of bankruptcy, all unsecured debt should not be… Read more »