State Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) | facebook.com/mccombieforilli
State Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) | facebook.com/mccombieforilli
State Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) is drawing attention to reports that a blind trust for Gov. J.B. Pritzker set up to prevent conflicts of interest has earned millions from an investment in one of the state’s largest medical contractors.
“Centene has made millions on serving our most vulnerable population under Medicaid, and it is not appropriate or ethical for the governor to be a known investor,” McCombie said in a post to Facebook.
The non-partisan Better Government Association reported the Pritzker Administration has made a series of decisions that have bolstered Centene’s standing as one of the state’s largest Medicaid contractors.
While a gubernatorial candidate in 2018, Pritzker, whose personal fortune tops $3.6 billion, vowed to strip his personal portfolio of companies holding state contracts.
In the first half of 2021, BGA reports Centene pocketed in excess of $2.6 billion from state Medicaid contracts and the company pegged profits for the company from that part of the contract alone in the neighborhood of $99 million.
During a recent stop at Navy Pier, the governor was peppered with questions about the situation.
“Centene had a contract with the state of Illinois before I became governor. It was the prior governor that signed that contract,” Pritzker told WGN.com. “That contract went into place before I went into office. So there’s no relationship in any way.”
In a statement, his campaign attorney Marc Elias said, “As far as the Governor’s interest in Centene as disclosed on his Statement of Economic Interests is concerned, if the Governor is entitled to receive a return on that investment, he of course will be made aware and will make a corresponding charitable contribution. The Governor’s trustees and his independent compliance advisor continue to work together to determine if the Governor receives any returns on investments in companies that have state contracts.
According to BetterGov.org, the state also oversaw Centene’s June 2020 acquisition of state Medicaid contractor NextLevelHighPartners, paving the way for the company to gain traction in the lucrative Cook County Medicaid market.
Just three months after that deal was closed, the state enrolled 36,000 juvenile state wards to a Centene subsidiary named YouthCare.
Lawmakers in Congress are now weighing an array of strengthened stock disclosure laws designed to prevent lawmakers from profiting from their access to insider information.
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