 "Medicaid reform is one part of my plan to stabilize our budget,"
Quinn said. "A priority of my administration is eliminating
inefficiencies so that we are saving money while delivering better
services to those that most need them."As the largest program
funded by the state, the Department of Healthcare and Family
Services program makes up about 30 percent of the state's total
budget. The state's Medicaid program serves about 2.8 million
elderly, disabled and poor people. The program is jointly funded by
the state and federal governments and managed by the state.
Under the law, 50 percent of the state's Medicaid recipients will
be moved into managed care by 2015, where they will have a "medical
home."
Lawmakers say reforms to the system will save the state money in
the future by cutting costs.
"It is a landmark achievement, I think, for health care in
Illinois," Quinn said during a news conference in Chicago. "It
really was the result of a tremendous number of people working
together, putting aside any partisan differences and working for the
health of the people of Illinois."
During the lame-duck veto session, Democratic and Republican
lawmakers from both chambers of the General Assembly overwhelmingly
approved
House Bill 5420. But the legislation didn't begin with support
from both sides of the aisle.
State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, acknowledges he was "number
one" on the list of cynical Republicans when it came to reforming
the system. But Righter changed his mind and signed on as a sponsor
of the legislation after Democratic Sen. Heather Steans of Chicago
approached him, saying the program "needs to be fixed."
"And she was right -- this program was on a collision course,"
Righter said. "It had an unattainable rate of growth, where
liabilities were far outstripping the revenues available to pay for
it. ... And in the end, the people who were bearing the burden to
pay for that were the people who were finding themselves on the
lowest rungs of the economic ladder -- the people for whom this
program isn't convenient, it's necessary."
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State Rep. Patricia Bellock, R-Hinsdale, agreed that she
questioned the reform effort from the start, but she was thrilled
with the outcome.
"Even one of my counterparts, a state (representative) on my side
of the aisle, said to me, 'Is this just a smoke-and-mirror bill or
is this really reform?'" Bellock recalled. "And I said, 'This is
real reform in Illinois, and we should all be proud of it on both
sides of the aisle.'"
The law also tightens eligibility requirements, maximizes the
prescription drug program and increases civil penalties for abuses.
Bellock said the reforms to the $15 billion-a-year program will
help to protect the most fragile population.
"The Medicaid program was set up to be a safety net for
low-income people so that they could get good health care," Bellock
said. "This reform bill will lead to people being able to (have) a
medical home. They will have a primary care physician, and they will
get equal access to health care. And, they will get good quality of
health care, we hope, with the reforms."
The legislation is effective immediately.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By DIANE S.W. LEE]
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