Illinois clearly is the pioneer in the not yet existent deceased rights movement, which I have heard is having trouble with turnout for its rallies. But if the dead ever do rise from their graves in a zombie apocalypse, as so often dramatized on cable television, they will no doubt demand that other states follow the lead of Illinois.

They're not dead, they're a constituency:



Photo credit: Max Pixel.

Illinois Policy reveals that the state has spent $4.6 million on Medicaid for dead people:

An audit by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Office of Inspector General, or OIG, found Illinois spent $4.6 million on Medicaid coverage for dead people. From October 2015 to September 2017, Illinois made 84 insurance payments for 80 deceased individuals that the state did not recover, according to OIG's audit. The state now owes the federal government $3.2 million – the portion of the $4.6 million Illinois received from the federal health department. State officials blamed the errors on a "technical flaw," according to the Chicago Tribune, and said the state failed to enter the individuals' death dates into the system.

I wonder if "Technical Flaw" has any siblings, cousins, or children on the public payroll? This being Illinois, I wouldn't rule it out.