Legal Council Blog
Views expressed in this blog belong to the respective author unless otherwise specified.
Highlights from 2016
2016 resulted in a banner year in the (nearly) thirty-year history of the Council. A few highlights of our work made possible because of your support: A record number of…
Read More
Ham-B-I-N-G-O
Join our Board of Ambassadors on Sunday, February 19, at 8pm for HamBingo! HamBingo is a charity event held @ Hamburger Mary’s (5400 N. Clark Street in Chicago), with February…
Read More
On the first day of the new congress
On the first day of the new Congress, Republicans introduced a budget resolution making good on their threat to repeal the ACA with no plan for the millions of people who will lose their access to healthcare. Equally devastating, Republican leadership has proposed deep cuts to federal support for Medicaid via block grants or “per capita caps” which would shift billions in costs for health care to Illinois.
Read More
Makes you want to scream
Republicans in Congress introduced a budget resolution that includes instructions to repeal major parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This is the first step in the process to repeal and delay, taking health care coverage away from 30 million, and consumer protections from millions more. Here’s what you can do.
Read More
Training to Sustain
At Chicago Medical-Legal Partnership for Children (CMLPC) meetings, legal advocates ask questions about cases, share perspectives, and tell success stories. Last week, Sarah Hess, a staff attorney in the UIC Coordination of Healthcare for Complex Kids (CHECK) program, shared a particularly meaningful success.
Read More
Client Focus: Janae and William
When Janae gave birth to William, things didn’t go exactly as planned. William was born premature and needed a hernia surgery, but for some reason, Janae could not get him…
Read More
Client Focus: Jane
Being a 12 year old girl isn’t always easy. For Jane, being 12 is more complicated than most. When she suffered from a mental health crisis in the middle of…
Read More
We won’t go back to 1964!
In the days after the 2016 election, we have thought long and hard about likely targets with a new administration and Congress. We see a new war on the poor with the first target being access to essential healthcare.
Medicaid is the principal program that provides access to medical care to the poor in Illinois. Since 1965 as part of the War on Poverty, Medicaid has been a remarkable program, providing life-saving healthcare for low-income Americans. And, the Affordable Care Act (aka ACA or ObamaCare) expanded Medicaid to single, childless adults living at or near poverty.
Read More
Tilting toward justice
No matter what, the Legal Council will continue to stand firm, fight, and never give up. As an agency that serves people with legal problems impacting their well-being, we are resolved to continue our work toward justice and dignity. We have already heard from clients who are concerned that their medications will be taken away in the coming days. We will continue—as we have done for almost three decades—to advocate for the rights of our clients and work hand-in-hand with our partners across the state and nation.
Read More