The Great Recession continues on and one of the effects in Illinois is a record number of families receiving food stamps. The Illinois Department of Human Services states an all time record of more than 780,000 families received food stamps in June, an increase of 11.9 percent over last year, the Associated Press reports. Nationally over 40 million Americans use food stamps. Despite this increase, these families may be cut off from their support with the passage of a new bill to save the means of others. more ›

Plans to decrease beds and move patients from the University of Chicago's emergency room to other South Side facilities have been halted amid protest within and outside the university community. more ›

Considering October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, now seems as good a time as any for Illinois' Medicaid program to begin covering genetic testing for the breast cancer gene. The test detects mutations of the BRCA gene, which often play a role in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. This test is one of the earliest forms of detection, giving women the ability to know they are at a higher risk for developing the disease before any symptoms appear. Per the Trib:

Illinois First Lady Patti Blagojevich, who pushed for the new Medicaid coverage, said in a statement: "It is important to me that we protect our daughters from hereditary forms of breast and ovarian cancer by identifying it as early as possible." more ›

Walgreens, which operates over 5,000 retail pharmacies throughout the U.S., switched the prescriptions for Medicaid patients who were prescribed 150 mg or 300 mg tablets of Ranitidine to more expensive capsules; prescriptions for 10 mg or 20 mg capsules of Fluoxetine to more expensive tablets; and prescriptions for 5 mg tablets of Eldepryl to more expensive capsules. By switching the form of the drug dispensed to Medicaid patients, Walgreens substantially increased its reimbursement from Medicaid while providing no additional medical benefit to patients.