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All Kids Audit: Program Report Card

One of Rod Blagojevich's top legislative achievements is slowly dwindling away. A new audit of the All Kids program shows there's less and less to review.

Rod Blagojevich was so proud of All Kids, he mentioned it in his farewell speech before going away to prison.
 
"That was hard to do, not easy. But I am gratified know that we helped a lot of kids and did things that saved lives."
 
All Kids made state-subsidized health insurance available to children from higher-income families, and covered the children of illegal immigrants.

But the Blagojevich expansion has been scaled back in recent years, to the point where it now represents less than 4 percent of kids who get government-backed health care.

By law, Illinois Auditor General Bill Holland has to review the program every year:  "There was this thought that maybe we need to look at this and make sure it does not get out of hand. But it clearly is shrinking, not growing."
 
Last year, Illinois lowered the income threshold to qualify for All Kids. And Holland says this year's overhaul of Medicaid will bring even more changes.
 

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