Urbana Mayor Wants Healthcare Costs Studied

Healthcare costs in East Central Illinois are 35 percent higher than they are in Chicago, according to a new study. While those costs may be fixed for now, Urbana's mayor wants to do something about it.

Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing says she was alarmed last month when she found out the cost of healthcare in Champaign County and surrounding areas was so much higher than Chicago. 

Prussing says she knows it's the result of little competition among hospitals, and the fact that one major employer--the university of illinois--offers little variance in health insurance options. But while those are factors very difficult to change, Prussing says something has to be done.

"That's a real drag on every business, every family and every government, plus every *real not-for-profit."

Prussing is making reference to Carle Hospital there, who she considers a phony non-profit organization. She says the amount of profits Carle takes in each year is difficult to reconcile with their tax-exempt status. 

The mayor wants to team up with Danville to study the cost of healthcare in the region, and come up with solutions to the deviation in insurance costs.