Ruling thwarts Illinois governor’s plan to expand state-backed healthcare

A Cook County, IL, judge may have hindered Gov. Rod Blagojevich's efforts to broadly expand state-subsidized healthcare, but the judge also allowed the governor to move forward on his expansion of a program to screen uninsured Illinois women for breast and cervical cancer. The rulings stem from a lawsuit seeking to block the Blagojevich's healthcare expansions, including a plan to let 147,000 parents and caretakers buy discounted health insurance through the state's FamilyCare program. A temporary injunction issued by the judge could hold up the FamilyCare expansion.