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The Kaiser Commission on
Medicaid and the Uninsured report released in Washington Monday
singles out Illinois' Medicaid program as one of only three in the
nation to significantly expand health coverage this year. The other
programs are in Missouri and the District of Columbia.
"No matter how bad our budget
problems get, we cannot abandon our duty to help the weakest members
of our society: children, parents struggling to make ends meet and
seniors who should not have to choose between buying groceries or
high-priced prescription drugs," Blagojevich said. "Health care will
always be a priority in my administration."
Setting health care at the top
of his agenda, Blagojevich crafted a budget for the state's Medicaid
agency, the Illinois Department of Public Aid, that expands the
KidCare and FamilyCare programs to cover 20,000 more children and
65,000 more parents this year. The budget also expands the
SeniorCare prescription drug benefit to include 50,000 more elderly
Illinoisans, but federal regulators have not yet approved that
expansion.
"Governor Blagojevich has made
it clear that we are not going to balance our budget on the backs of
our must vulnerable citizens," said Director of Public Aid Barry S.
Maram.
The 90-page Kaiser Commission
report on Medicaid in all 50 states can be viewed at
http://www.kff.org/content/2003/4137.
The report states that despite
Illinois' budget problems, "Governor Blagojevich proposed a state
budget for FY 2004 that increased funding for education and
continued to build on previous health care expansions."
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this article]
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A total of 1.8 million Illinois
residents, including 1 million children and 350,000 elderly and
disabled people, receive health coverage under the state's Medicaid
program.
In July, Gov. Blagojevich
signed legislation that expands eligibility of KidCare, the
children's health insurance program, from 185 percent of the federal
poverty level to 200 percent.
The related FamilyCare program,
for parents of KidCare children, is being expanded over three years
from 49 percent of the federal poverty level to 185 percent,
delivering health insurance to an additional 300,000 parents. In the
first year, as of July 1, the eligibility level was raised to 90
percent of the poverty level.
The planned expansion of
SeniorCare will lift the income cap for the comprehensive drug
benefit from 200 percent of the poverty level to 250 percent.
The governor has also created a
prescription buying club, to be launched next year, that is open to
all the state's seniors and is expected to save members 20 percent
or more on drug costs.
In addition, Blagojevich is
lobbying for federal legislation that would allow the state to buy
prescription drugs in Canada, which could save millions of dollars
for all drug consumers.
For
more information about Illinois Department of Public Aid programs,
go to
http://www.dpaillinois.com.
[Illinois
Government News Network
news release]
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