Here at the shebeen we have been inexcusably dilatory in dealing with Bruce Rauner, the venture-capitalist Trumpbagger who got himself elected governor of Illinois in which capacity he's pretty much Running The State Like A Business, which is to say Into The Ground.

(That Rauner once worked as an aide to Chicago Mayor and career dipstick Rahm Emanuel should tell you all you need to know about both of these jackeens.)

Right now, as is the case in several states, Illinois has no state budget because the state legislature and the governor can't get together on one. (In fact, there apparently was roughly the same disagreement within the Rauner household over the cuts to social services that Rauner proposed. Don't let her carve, Bruce!) The governor now proposes to stiff state workers who have the misfortune to get sick or injured while he and the legislature snipe at each other.

The extent to which the situation prompts health-care providers to request or demand patients pay the entire cost of medical services up front remains to be seen. For several years, providers in Springfield and the rest of Illinois have endured payment delays of a year or longer for the care of patients covered through the state's group insurance plan. Delays have been longest for patients covered by the self-insured programs. Because of those delays, there have been anecdotal reports over the years of some providers asking for total payments up front. But it's unprecedented for the state to stop paying claims, even temporarily, for large numbers of people. It's unknown whether the prospect of even longer delays will make more providers more aggressive in trying to collect money they are owed.

It's only "unknown", by the way, because it hasn't happened yet. Anyone with health insurance can be fairly sure that it will not stay "unknown" for very long.

She stressed that health insurance for state employees, university employees, retirees and dependents will continue unchanged, regardless of whether payment of claims are further delayed, and premiums will continue to be collected from members.

Only someone who literally never has dealt with a health-care provider could say that someone's health-insurance will "continue unchanged," even though nobody's going to pay claims while the premiums are still collected. The budget impasse remains intractable and the novelty of having a Republican governor in Illinois seems to be wearing off. We'll be checking back more regularly.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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