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Illinois House debates changes to worker's compensation system

Peoria Public Radio

The Illinois House continues to debate the state's workers' compensation system. 

Businesses say workers' comp is one of their biggest competitive disadvantages compared with companies in neighboring states. That's why it's at the top of Gov. Bruce Rauner's so-called Turnaround Agenda. 

The Republican proposes narrowing who's eligible for workers' compensation benefits, and lowering what doctors get paid when taking on work comp cases. 

Rauner's calls for change prompted House Speaker Michael Madigan to call a rare meeting of the Illinois House, where the chamber spent hours debating work comp, without taking a vote. 

Representatives heard from people like Keith Price, who'd been working on the South Side of Chicago when he got hurt. 

"I’m missing my right leg below the knee. I got hurt, I got throwed from a forklift at work. Something was messed up with the forklift.” 

Price says now he can't work. He says he needed all of the benefits he got, and more.