WASHINGTON, May 17 -- The office of Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., issued the following news release:

In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today admonished House Republicans for slashing Medicaid funding for families, women, seniors, rural communities, and children in their plan to repeal health care. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) gave states the option to expand Medicaid to millions more Americans - 32 states participate in the expansion, including Illinois. As a result, 11 million people nationwide - and 650,000 people in Illinois - are newly enrolled in the Medicaid program and able to access health care. Trumpcare ends the Medicaid expansion and dramatically cuts the underlying Medicaid program - slashing $40 billion from Illinois alone and putting millions of lives and jobs at risk.

"More than three million Illinoisans, about 20 percent of the people in my state, currently depend on Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program for health care. This includes 300,000 Illinois seniors and people with disabilities. It also includes 1.5 million children, or half of all kids in Illinois," said Durbin. "Do you know what the Republican Affordable Care Act repeal bill does for these programs? It ends the expansion of Medicaid. It would eliminate coverage for 650,000 people in the state of Illinois. The bill cuts health care for struggling families, women, seniors, and children in order to give a tax break to the wealthiest people in America. Repealing health care would be devastating - devastating to the kids who depend on Medicaid, devastating to the seniors in the nursing homes who are dependent on Medicaid, devastating to those who are disabled and have to turn to Medicaid regularly to maintain their lifestyle and be productive, happy, and safe."

The Illinois Health and Hospital Association (IHA) predicts that the Medicaid cuts included in the House-passed ACA repeal bill would result in approximately 60,000 job losses in Illinois alone.

Durbin also described what Trumpcare would do to Medicaid participants nationwide. The Medicaid program helps pay for two out of three seniors in their nursing homes. It pays for about half of all children born in this country. It is the primary payer of all mental health and opioid addiction treatment. It provides health care to 25 percent of people in rural communities. Medicaid pays for special education in nearly half of all school districts, and it provides critical support for veterans with chronic conditions.

Video of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor are available here.( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWjW3crceag)

Audio of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.( https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/audio/listen/durbin-under-trumpcare_-medicaid-decimated-childrens-health-care-threatened-and-big-tax-breaks-for-the-wealthy)

Footage of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here (https://lfts.senate.gov/seos/1000/mpd/ui020620179d025124b935116872de78f2a40c39e3) for TV Stations.

In March, Durbin released a report titled "TrumpCare: Less for More, An Analysis of the Impact of Repealing the Affordable Care Act on Illinois," which details what Illinois stands to lose if President Trump and Congressional Republicans are successful in passing their legislation to repeal the ACA. After requesting information from every hospital, public health department, and major medical society in the state, the report summarizes how the ACA has helped individuals, families, and providers in all 18 Illinois congressional districts, and provides information on the increased out-of-pocket costs and number of people in each congressional district that stand to lose health coverage under the Republican repeal bill.

(Legal Newsline) — A federal judge won’t prematurely end a class action accusing State Farm of misleading thousands of life insurance customers by selling policies issued by a company it knew was facing a massive capital shortfall.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall denied State Farm’s motion to dismiss a complaint from clients in nine states who bought PHL Variable Life Insurance Company policies from State Farm and its subsidiaries between 2001 and 2009.

According to Kendall, the complaint alleged four counts on behalf of a putative nationwide class: breach of fiduciary duty, professional negligence, unjust enrichment and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Subclasses from Illinois, California and New Jersey would bring state law allegations. Kendall said she ordered additional briefing on choice-of-law issues for the state law claims and noted those issues preclude her from resolving the dismissal request.

“Judicial economy favors addressing class certification before reaching the merits of the claims,” Kendall wrote in the ruling. “The 14 named plaintiffs are from nine different states and are bringing state law claims on behalf of themselves and a purported nationwide class.”

Although both sides argued Kendall didn’t need to analyze which laws should apply in order to rule on the motion to dismiss, given no differences in state law would dictate different outcomes, she said that framing “is difficult to accept given the parties’ apparent misapprehension of the laws they invoke. Throughout their briefing, the parties conflate the distinct roles of insurer, insurance agent and insurance broker and cite legal rules applicable to those roles interchangeably. Even a cursory review of the relevant states’ laws reveals material differences across jurisdictions.”

For example, she said, under Illinois law, only brokers, and not agents or insurers, have a fiduciary duty to insured customers. But “the Insurance Placement Liability Act bars liability for a breach of fiduciary claim brought against an insurance broker unless it involves the wrongful retention or misappropriation of funds,” she wrote, while “none of the other eight states limits liability for breach of fiduciary claims in this way. Seven states recognize breach of fiduciary duty claims in the insurance context, albeit with their own caveats and nuances.”

She further explained how Illinois law on insurance-based negligence claims conflicts with other states and said she is obligated to consider nuances when deciding which laws to use while analyzing the underlying allegations, especially since the complaint proposes a nationwide class.

Were she to rule on the dismissal motion before the choice-of-law analysis, that may require her “to determine the laws governing the claims of the nine named plaintiffs, potentially dismiss some claims, and then revisit those same state-law differences in determining whether and to what extent a nationwide class may be certified,” Kendall wrote. “Further, resolving class certification first may substantially narrow the case if the court narrows the nationwide class or declines to certify it.”

Kendall acknowledged State Farm might’ve been cost conscious in moving for dismissal before the plaintiffs sought certification, but reiterated that “is not the most efficient course” regarding this litigation and said she wouldn’t rule on dismissal until she addresses certification. Although the plaintiffs haven’t yet filed such a motion, she advised both sides to discuss next steps at a status hearing and denied the motion to dismiss without prejudice.