Another audit has revealed that state bureaucrats often make up their own rules as they go along.

There is often a big difference between how a new state program is implemented and how the General Assembly has directed that it be implemented.

That's why the state has an auditor general whose job it is to examine the details and who all too often finds plenty of mistakes.

That's what happened during a recent audit of the "All Kids" program, which was passed in 2006. This program, according to the audit, was aimed at providing medical insurance to uninsured children "whose family income was greater than 200 percent of the federal poverty level or who were undocumented immigrants."

The audit found a variety of problems, many of which drove the cost of the program higher than it should have been.

Total claims paid in the 2010 fiscal year were $84.2 million, a sum vastly in excess of the $9.8 million in premiums paid by those who were enrolled. The $74.4 million deficit was exacerbated by the failure of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to terminate enrollment in the program when enrollees did not pay the required insurance premiums. State law required the termination, but the audit revealed that the state paid nearly $290,000 in bills for more than 1,800 enrollees whose premiums were not paid.

The department also failed to adequately check the monthly income of families seeking coverage. The report said department bureaucrats decided one pay stub was sufficient to determine 12-month eligibility, allowed individuals to remain on the program after they turned 19 and were no longer eligible and did not check to determine if applicants were actually Illinois residents.

It may strike some as ironic that a resident of Indiana would not be eligible to apply for taxpayer-funded insurance while a resident of another country who is in this country illegally would be eligible. But that is how the program was designed by the Legislature.

The audit found, however, that the rules for illegals were so lax that "the All Kids application does not require that any birth or identity documentation be provided," essentially meaning that the state had no assurance of the identity or age of the insured. Department auditors noted with some irony that "it is questionable how the (state) can verify that the child meets the act's age requirements" under those circumstances.

The All Kids program was a brainchild of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, one of a number of programs he persuaded the Legislature to pass even though the state didn't have the money to pay for it. Obviously, the money used for All Kids was diverted from other state programs like education, mental health or prescription assistance for seniors.

It was bad enough that the General Assembly didn't worry about whether the program was affordable. Even more aggravating is that executive department bureaucrats took such a lax approach toward implementation, ignoring the written rules as well as those of common sense.

About the only good thing that can be said about the audit is that errors were identified and the various state departments covered by it have accepted the findings and promised to make the appropriate corrections.