By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

Howard Brown Health Center signed on last week for Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s expansion of breast and cervical cancer screenings and related services, one of three agencies to do so.

Cat Jefcoat, who heads up HBHC’s Lesbian Community Care Project, said any woman age 18 or older who lacks health insurance can now go to the agency’s North Side clinic for free screenings and treatment.

“This is incredibly exciting for Howard Brown,” said HBHC CEO Michael Cook. “The governor’s program will allow us to screen a typically underserved population of our community: Uninsured lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. We applaud the governor on his commitment to ensuring cancer screenings and treatment for all women of Illinois.”

The expanded program is not without controversy—Blagojevich is being sued by a business group led by Ron Gidwitz, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate, for reallocating hundreds of millions of dollars appropriated by the Illinois Legislature for other purposes to pay for new healthcare programs, including the breast and cervical cancer program.

The governor is using part of that money, coupled with federal dollars from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to pay for his expansion of breast and cervical cancer screenings and treatment, according to Melanie Arnold, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Under a law he supported in 2004, the governor sought the approval of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules to reallocate the state funds. But when that committee rejected his request in November, Blagojevich said he didn’t need its approval, calling the committee an “advisory” body.

At a press conference in Oak Park to announce the expanded cancer programs Dec. 6, Blagojevich lashed out at Gidwitz and other critics.

“I find it almost Dickens-like that the heir to a shampoo fortune would go the extra length and go into court to try to take away health care,” Blagojevich said, referring to Gidwitz. “I take great pride in the fact that I go around the Legislature to provide health care.”

Told of the governor’s characterization, Gidwitz shot back, “This is not about health care. This is about the governor upholding the laws of the state of Illinois, his sworn duty.”