 Quinn vetoed $276 million in Medicaid payments from the budget the
Legislature sent him this spring. Quinn wants to move the money to
other areas of the budget, such as general state aid for schools.
But removing Medicaid payments from the budget isn't an actual cut.
Hospitals and doctors still are owed what they've billed the state.
Without corresponding cuts to how much the state reimburses for
Medicaid patients, Quinn's veto would push those payments to next
year's budget.
"The $276 million is really not cash. It's really debt, and it
would be very irresponsible for us to reallocate that money," said
state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, who chairs the House Human
Services Appropriations Committee that determined the budget for
Medicaid this year.
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, began the paperwork to
overturn Quinn's veto and put the Medicaid money back in the budget,
but he did not call the override for a vote Tuesday. The
constitutional deadline for voting to override the veto expired
midnight Tuesday, meaning the reductions are now official.
Kelly Kraft, a spokeswoman for Quinn's Office of Management and
Budget, said in an email that Quinn's actions were simply part of
managing the budget.
That $276 million will be added to the $1.6 billion in past-due
Medicaid payments the state owes, bringing the new total to more
than $1.8 billion.
Only $162 million of those bills are in the Illinois
comptroller's office and in the billing cycle to be paid.
Quinn's office has ordered the state Department of Healthcare and
Family Services to withhold about $1.5 billion in Medicaid bills
from going to the comptroller's office until December, according to
the comptroller's office.
Kraft did not address why that was being done.
State Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Hinsdale, said that by June, the
state will have $2.3 billion in overdue Medicaid bills. By June
2013, the number will double to almost $5.2 billion, Bellock said.
The governor and some legislators pushed for cuts this spring to
how much the state reimburses for Medicaid patients, but hospitals
fought hard against it. Winning a small victory, hospitals avoided a
rate cut by agreeing to extend the time it takes the state to pay
hospitals from 30 days to 110 days, or about 3 1/2 months.
"It's the 'lesser of two evils' kind of thing. We absolutely
oppose rate cuts, because you'll never see that money," said Danny
Chun, spokesman for the Illinois Hospital Association, which lobbies
for hospitals in the state.
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With the $276 million in Medicaid payments pushed to next year,
the billing cycle will move from 110 days to about 160 days, or five
months, Chun said.
"There are all these financial pressures on multiple levels, so a
payment cycle extension just adds to the challenges. It's not
something you can automatically absorb," Chun said.
This won't be the last time Medicaid is a hot-button issue in the
Capitol. Medicaid ate up $13.7 billion of the state's $33.2 billion
budget, or about 41 percent, this year. There are 2.8 million
low-income people enrolled in Medicaid, a number that continues to
grow.
Feigenholtz said that as the unemployment number hovers around 10
percent, fewer people have jobs and health insurance. Those
individuals are turning to Medicaid to pay their medical bills.
Additionally, even more people will be covered by Medicaid under the
federal Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act.
Originally, people making at or below 100 percent of the federal
poverty level were eligible for Medicaid, but under the Patient
Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act, that limit is raised to
133 percent of the federal poverty level. The federal poverty level
is based on a sliding scale.
"We really need to enlist the General Assembly in taking a hard
look at cost-containment measures of all stripes," Feigenholtz said.
Cutting how much the state reimburses for treating Medicaid
patients is on the table, along with more thorough procedures for
making sure a person is Medicaid-eligible and stopping coverage of
some nonessential services through Medicaid, Feigenholtz said.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By ANDREW THOMASON]
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