 The Democrat said he
wants to tackle restructuring the health
care program that covers 2.7 million poor and disabled Illinoisans,
but he didn't provide specifics."We want to have better health
care and wellness for those who are Medicaid recipients," he said.
"That may mean we step on some of the toes of some of those
providers in the system. Some of those sacred cows may have to be
challenged."
Some options for restructuring the system are shrinking payments
to hospital and doctors, cutting benefits, and reducing how many
people are eligible.
Reforming Medicaid won't be easy, particularly in an election
year. Last year, Quinn proposed cutting payment rates for providing
care under the Medicaid program, which would have meant a reduction
in what state government owes. But state legislators did not approve
it.
The state's Medicaid budget is about $14 billion, which includes
federal money. The state contribution is around $8.6 billion.
However, the state has paid some costs out of future budgets, and
there has been a buildup of late payments. The backlog of unpaid
Medicaid bills is expected to reach $1.8 billion by the end of the
fiscal year.
Quinn said he also wants to reform public pensions system this
year. The state's five state-employee pension systems are
underfunded by about $83 billion.
He said he will look at employer and employee contributions,
cost-of-living adjustments and the retirement age. Previously, he
has suggested making local school districts pick up the employers'
portion of teacher retirement benefits.
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"If we want to have adequate resources for education and public
safety and all the other important things in life, we're going to
have to deal with this very difficult issue," he said Tuesday as he
addressed the City Club of Chicago.
Quinn also said he wants to reform the state's tax system, which
he says has "too many loopholes." He offered no details.
Quinn will unveil his state budget on Feb. 22, at a time when
Illinois's backlog of unpaid bills is at $9.2 billion and expected
to continue growing.
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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redistributed.
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