The Governor’s proposed budget, which is intended to overcome a projected $6 billion budget deficit for FY 2016 (on top of a $1.6 billion deficit for the current fiscal year), includes $1.5 billion in cuts to Medicaid, making the program one of the main targets of the Governor’s cost-cutting efforts. The program currently covers more than 3 million Illinois residents. The belief by some lawmakers is that eliminating the services provided by Medicaid will simply make associated costs disappear. This mindset does not take into account, however, that Medicaid beneficiaries will still need to seek health services in other forms, such as emergency-room visits, that could actually increase costs. Furthermore, as the Illinois Hospital Association’s “talking points” below emphasize, it is not just Medicaid recipients who will be affected by decreases in funding for it.
- Any cuts to Medicaid in the current FY 2015 Illinois budget need to be opposed.
- Any proposals that would grant Governor Rauner unilateral authority to make cuts in the Illinois budget need to be stopped.
- Hospitals play a major role in providing health care to residents of their communities.
- Not only that, but they also provide good-paying jobs and promote economic growth.
- Statewide, 40 percent of hospitals are already operating at a loss.
- Illinois hospitals and health systems have already borne the burden of substantial cuts in recent years, including $380 million in Medicaid reductions and almost $1.9 billion in federal Medicare cuts
- Additionally, any further Medicaid cuts to hospitals would result in the loss of services for patients, including those who do not receive Medicaid, and would hinder ongoing efforts to reform Medicaid and health care more broadly.
- Also, reductions in Medicaid would increase the cost of health insurance for less-affluent individuals and their families, particularly through higher premiums, co-pays, and deductibles.
- Illinois hospitals have already played a key role in alleviating the state’s budget woes.
- Hospitals have worked with Illinois government to reform Medicaid and the delivery of health care, in the process saving the state over $1 billion since 2012.
- Hospitals have agreed to pay the state an assessment fee of more than $1 billion annually. This has resulted in a significant reduction in the proportion of Medicaid payments that the state must provide (25%), as the rest are covered by the assessment fee and matching funds from the federal government.
Also, the IHA has released a 2015 advocacy agenda for Illinois that covers issues beyond just Medicaid funding. The agenda can be accessed here.
The agenda includes the following key issues.
- Ensuring adequate funding, via the state budget and Medicaid
- Maintaining fairness in contracts by insurers and health plans
- Streamlining the health-planning process through regulatory reforms
- Reforming medical liability
- Reforming workers’ compensation
- Preserving health coverage for Illinois residents
- Bringing in additional funding via the 1115 Medicaid waiver
- Supporting rural health care