New Report: Illinois Medicaid Cuts Could Cost Illinois 25,000 Jobs

(Springfield, IL) – Two health-care advocacy groups are predicting thousands of job losses and billions of dollars in economic damage to Illinois, if Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to conjure $2.7 billion in savings from the Medicaid program is implemented.

Quinn’s plan would jeopardize 25,615 jobs and cost the state’s economy $3.2 billion, according to a report released Wednesday by the Illinois Hospital Association, which lobbies for Illinois hospitals, and the Campaign for Better Health Care, an organization that advocates for health-care access

“Drastic Medicaid cuts hurt everyone, not just the Medicaid patients. Hospitals will be forced to reduce jobs. Local businesses will be impacted,” Illinois Hospital Association President Maryjane Wurth said.

“And hospitals will be forced to cut or eliminate medical services that everyone uses — there is not a separate set of staff, equipment and facilities just for Medicaid patients.”

Quinn’s proposal reduces the amount Medicaid providers get paid by $675 million, accounting for 25 percent of the $2.7 billion in savings.

Nearly every dollar of the $6.6 billion the state spends on Medicaid goes to providers. Cutting provider reimbursement’s by $675 million translates into an across the board rate reduction of 7 percent to 9 percent for providers, according to Quinn spokeswoman Brie Callahan.

Callahan said that in the end it wouldn’t be a blanket rate cut. Some providers would see rates reduced by more than 9 percent, while others might avoid a rate cut all together.

“That still is something that’s being worked out,” Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said. “These are tough choices, but the reality is that (the) entire Medicaid system will collapse, which would be far worse, if we do nothing.”

Illinois Pension, Medicaid Costs to Top Illinois Budget Problems in 2012

(Springfield, IL) – Illinois will be facing an $800 million deficit within three years, despite tax revenue projected to grow by more than $1 billion a year.

“These projections clearly demonstrate that action must be taken to control not only Medicaid costs but also (pension) costs or all other areas of government will continue to be squeezed,” Kelly Kraft, the governor’s budget spokeswoman said in a statement.

Quinn on Tuesday released his three-year budget projection in which Illinois in fiscal 2013 is expected to spend $33.7 billion, about $1.5 billion more than this year. By fiscal 2015, Illinois’ expenditures will reach $34.2 billion, or $2 billion more than the current budget.

The governor’s fiscal outline is part of the state’s Budgeting for Results initiative. Lawmakers created this process in 2011 to force the governor to craft a realistic budget within the financial means of the state.

The majority of the additional spending will be on public employee pensions.

Quinn’s own numbers project an $818 million deficit by 2015, even after holding spending flat on Medicaid, elementary and high school funding, and state government services.

Illinois’ pension payment jumps $1.1 billion in fiscal 2013, from $4.2 billion this year to $5.3 billion. By 2015, Illinois will be making an annual pension payment of $5.9 billion.

Republican State Treasurer Dan Rutherford said the state cannot afford a nearly $6 billion pension payment.

Illinois Lawmakers OK Funding to Keep Illinois Prisons, Mental Health Facilities Open

(Springfield, IL) – Illinois’ seven endangered prisons and mental health facilities will stay open for at least the next six months after lawmakers gave Gov. Pat Quinn the power to shift nearly $300 million inside the state budget.

But more importantly, lawmakers also said they sent the governor this clear message: He must not threaten to close state facilities to get what he wants from the state budget.

Lawmakers on Tuesday approved this new spending authority for Quinn. The House approved it with a 92-20 vote and the Senate with a 50-5 vote.

The money, which was taken from Illinois’ regional superintendents, school transportation accounts and the Medicaid budget by delaying payment on more Medicaid bills, will keep the seven sites open through the end of June.

Racial Justice: Gov. Pat Quinn OKs Panel to Tackle African-American Economic, Social Disparities

(Chicago, IL) – To address economic and social inequalities faced by African Americans in Illinois, the state legislature this year overwhelmingly approved and Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation that creates the Commission to End the Disparities Facing the African-American Community.

The measure, House Bill 1547, sponsored by State Representative Monique Davis (D-Chicago) and State Senator Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago), charges the new 31-member, unpaid panel to research and make policy recommendations regarding disparities facing African Americans in areas of health care, employment, education, criminal justice, and housing.

“Representative Davis and Senator Hunter deserve credit for spearheading this important racial justice legislation,” said Pamela Rodriguez, president of Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC).

“Racial justice demands that Illinois have a comprehensive strategy for ending current social and economic disparities faced daily by African Americans, disparities which have only deepened with onset of the economic crisis in 2008,” Rodriguez added.

In addition to Representative Davis, House sponsors included State Representatives Cynthia Soto (D), Annazette Collins (D), Camille Lilly (D), LaShawn Ford (D), Eddie Lee Jackson (D), Charles Jefferson (D), Susana Mendoza (D), Greg Harris (D), Mary Flowers (D), Marlow Colvin (D), Lisa Dugan (D), Patrick Verschoore (D), and Robert Rita (D).

In addition to Senator Hunter, Senate sponsors included State Senators Jacqueline Collins (D) and Donne Trotter (D).

The commission, which will make its recommendations to the Illinois General Assembly by December 31, 2013, will hold at least one public hearing.

New Illinois Budget Not Settled Gov. Pat Quinn Says

(Springfield, IL) – Gov. Pat Quinn may sign the 2012 state budget Thursday, but the spending plan is not a one-and-done deal.

“The budget is an on-going process,” said Quinn. “We have to work on it 365 days of the fiscal year.”

Quinn, who introduced a nearly $36 billion budget, said he is not happy with the $33.4 billion spending plan that Illinois lawmakers sent him, and he wants more spending in education and human services.

But while Quinn can shift around money in the budget, he cannot order more spending, said state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago.

“The governor has some limitations when he is acting on the budget,” said Feigenholtz. ”He cannot add. He can only (order) line-item reductions.”

But Feigenholtz, who helped write the human services portion of the state budget, said Quinn “should come back to the Legislature to ask us for more” money this fall. And Quinn agreed.

“There may be some legislators that want to revisit certain areas (of the budget),” said Quinn. “I think it’s really imperative that legislators not say, ‘We did something in the spring,’ and that’s the last word.”

OUR VIEW: Governor Quinn Should Sign Budget with Restored Funding for Addiction Treatment

TASC appreciates the General Assembly’s work in restoring FY12 funding for addiction treatment and case management. These funds originally had been eliminated in Governor Quinn’s proposed FY12 budget.

Thanks to the House sponsorship of Speaker Michael Madigan and Representative Sara Feigenholtz, along with the Senate Sponsorship of Heather Steans, House Bill 3717 appropriates funding for community-based addiction treatment with only a 1 percent cut from current-year funding. This represents a major victory for sound fiscal and public policy. It also slows a three-year trend of steady funding cuts to the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (DASA). 

State budget cuts have resulted in diminished access to addiction treatment for those who seek it—even as new designer drugs emerge and prescription drug abuse is on the rise. DASA’s funding for TASC services has decreased 27 percent in the past three years. We have absorbed these budget cuts through layoffs and service reductions, and we have made further adjustments to maximize the efficiency of our services and the leanness of our infrastructure.

Enough is enough. 

The legislature agrees.

TASC’s statewide services for courts and probation are mandated by law and funded through DASA. Through clinical case management, we place clients into community-based treatment programs, monitor their progress, support their recovery, and make reports to the courts. This balance of opportunity and accountability works: defendants who are sent to TASC are twice as successful in treatment as other criminal justice-referred clients in Illinois. Through TASC’s work, people enter recovery, obtain employment, and reunify with their families.

Illinois taxpayers spend $25,000 to incarcerate a nonviolent, drug-using offender for a year, whereas the cost of community-based drug treatment, combined with TASC supervision, is less than $5,000. Each person sent to TASC and treatment instead of prison saves taxpayers $20,000. When it costs taxpayers five times more to incarcerate a nonviolent offender than it does to treat his or her addiction, the choice is easy.

The decision of the Illinois legislature to restore funds to treatment and case management is not only a sound fiscal decision, but a solid public safety decision as well. For clients mandated to TASC as an alternative to incarceration, arrests for both drug crimes and property crimes were reduced by 71 percent compared to before they came to TASC.

We thank the members of the Illinois House and Senate for restoring these critical funds to save taxpayer dollars and make our communities safer. We urge the Governor to follow suit.