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* The Tribune takes a look at the ever-escalating costs of funding health care for undocumented immigrants…
During a Wednesday budget hearing for the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which administers the health care coverage for immigrants, state Sen. Chapin Rose, a Republican from Mahomet, said the projected overrun in the program next year “is a significant hit because of the other choices that are now going to have to be made by the General Assembly on how to fill this $880 million gap.”
The program also is running over budget in the current year, with the total tab now expected to be about $690 million, more than three times what was budgeted, according to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
However, the department expects to be able to absorb the cost due to lower-than-expected spending in other areas, Ben Winick, the department’s chief of staff, told a Senate committee Wednesday.
Rose said the projected current year cost overrun would be enough to cover increased funding for services for intellectually and developmentally disabled residents and put the state in compliance with a federal consent decree. Community service providers have repeatedly requested such funding in recent years, but Democrats have said the state can’t afford it.
The governor’s office wouldn’t say how it proposes to address the exploding costs of the immigrant health care program, or whether options such as closing enrollment in the program or raising taxes to pay for it are on the table.
What a mess.
* And Brenden Moore does a good job laying out many of the budget items demanded by various folks…
Progressives, for instance, have been pushing for the creation of a $700 child tax credit for low- and middle-income families.
The Latino Caucus has been pushing for the expansion of a program that provides health care to non-citizen adults who are otherwise ineligible for Medicaid benefits. The program is currently for those who are 42 or older, but some want to make anyone over the age of 18.
Advocates for those with developmental disabilities are pushing for a pay increase for professionals who work with those individuals in community-based settings.
Healthcare providers and industry advocates are pushing for an increase hospital Medicaid reimbursement rates.
Local officials have been calling for a gradual restoration of the Local Government Distributive Fund, which is the share of the state’s income tax that goes towards municipalities, to 10%.
I think Rep. Will Guzzardi said it best…
“I know we had these flush years from a fiscal perspective. But from a community perspective, these have been lean years, these have been really difficult years and there’s so much trauma in our communities.”
* Related…
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, May 8, 23 @ 9:36 am
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Taxes will have to go up if you want to support asylum seekers. Many are young. Many are English Language Learners. You can’t just expect CPS to handle the entire problem. Affluent school districts are going to have to make some sacrifices.
Comment by Steve Monday, May 8, 23 @ 9:43 am
The big challenge now is that the state is not doing so poorly it can hide behind doing so poorly it cannot fund people’s projects and instead needs to make judgments on what is more important. Continuing this stabilization, and meeting the challenges of fixing DCFS, IDOC, and meeting various consent decrees, will involve saying no to many programs with merit.
Comment by Nuke The Whales Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:01 am
It is absolutely unbelievable that we still need to
“find room in the budget” for pay increases in CILA homes. We have left the staff high and dry for far too long, which has harmed the individuals in care.
Comment by Squirrel Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:04 am
Rick’s headline brought to mind the old show 12 O’Clock High. General Savage took a troubled group and brought some discipline and improved its performance.
General Pritzker has brought some discipline to the budget. That and some help from higher command has helped bring the planes in for the last few years. Now the help has thinned and the pilots are trying to reassert their judgment on how things should be done. General Pritzker is going to have to harden the discipline once again. Will he be up to it? Or will he lose it as Savage did.
Like the film, we’ll be standing on the control tower watching for the planes to land.
Comment by Norseman Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:18 am
Norseman gets it for sure. The general is going to have to work extra hard to maintain fiscal discipline now that his party’s control is pretty close to absolutre.
=Taxes will have to go up if you want to support asylum seekers. Many are young. Many are English Language Learners. You can’t just expect CPS to handle the entire problem. Affluent school districts are going to have to make some sacrifices.=
Pretty much all gibberish. Taxes will not have to be raised. They might need to increase but their is a lot that needs to happen and at least one fiscal year needs to take place before any real evaluation of that can happen.
CPS isn’t going to be on the hook for all of these expenses. If their enrollment increases their state dollars will also increase. BUt this is not just about the new immigrants. And the numbers are spread all over the state.
Not that you should, but you do not understand much about school funding.
Comment by JS Mill Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:41 am
===Taxes will have to go up if you want to support asylum seekers===
That’s called concern trolling.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:42 am
As the legislature when foolishly granting benefits to asylum seekers when the State had other unfunded needs promised us it would cost X but if costs 5 or 6 times X-if you don’t cancel the program at least cap it at the projected cost and limit increases to inflation
Comment by Sue Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:47 am
They need to fully fund existing programs before starting new ones or expanding existing ones. Or make a value judgement that some existing programs need to be reduced or eliminated.
Only after all that is done should any expansions or new programs be considered.
This year’s budget fight won’t be pretty, but it is necessary if the State is to stay on the road to fiscal stability.
Comment by RNUG Monday, May 8, 23 @ 11:12 am
Young asylum seekers who are at least 18 are what we can call labor strength. They have the right to work while they await their hearing. And in my neck of the woods anyway, Spanish is a very common language on job sites and with so many bilingual people, it should be fairly straightforward for the migrants to learn functional English if they don’t already have it. This could actually be very good for IL.
Younger than 18 can go to high school and I doubt it will all be on CPS. If some of the migrants have family in the burbs they will probably wind up with family for a bit. Most schools in my area already have programs for Spanish speakers so that shouldn’t cause a great strain.
Comment by cermak_rd Monday, May 8, 23 @ 11:16 am
How much will Pritzker become a “Governor No” with so much st stake in social services will be as big if a challenge for this administration than anything, - Norseman - has the imagery right,
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, May 8, 23 @ 11:20 am
Boy oh boy, it’s times like these that people should consider returning to the discussing of a progressive income tax rate that is already supported by a majority of voters - but maybe this time try a little harder to reach voters to combat right wing misinformation.
There’s really only so far we can kick the can before we need to return to a discussion of what would be a better revenue structure and create a less regressive mechanism for funding our State.
===However, the department expects to be able to absorb the cost due to lower-than-expected spending in other areas===
Lots of flexibility when your agency has failed to fill hundreds of jobs.
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, May 8, 23 @ 11:36 am
I think RNUG and Cermak-Rd make some great points.
Budget discipline involves making choices sometimes. I think the governor will face push back from some of his allies, he has before and I think he did a pretty good job with that. I hope it continues.
Comment by JS Mill Monday, May 8, 23 @ 11:39 am
===Local officials have been calling for a gradual restoration of the Local Government Distributive Fund===
Go for it, but delay the implementation date to FY46 when the Edgar Ramp is done. The state will go from a $16.5B pension contribution in FY45 to $943M in FY46, so that $800M that LGDF wants is totally doable…in 23 years. Might even have enough left to fully fund K-12’s Evidence-Based Funding. Who else needs money?
Comment by thechampaignlife Monday, May 8, 23 @ 12:16 pm
==The state will go from a $16.5B pension contribution in FY45 to $943M in FY46==
Not if Tier 2 benefits are enhanced.
Comment by City Zen Monday, May 8, 23 @ 2:00 pm
“Not if Tier 2 benefits are enhanced.”
Or if a fireball destroys all life on Earth.
Comment by Ducky LaMoore Monday, May 8, 23 @ 2:31 pm
==The big challenge now is that the state is not doing so poorly it can hide behind doing so poorly it cannot fund people’s projects and instead needs to make judgments on what is more important.==
Is paying teachers and child care workers more to keep them from leaving the business of teaching and caring for Illinois’s children, important enough to raise taxes?
Comment by Mama Monday, May 8, 23 @ 2:54 pm
I agree Sue. Cap the spending from the dishonest projection instead of talking about more taxes needed.
And talk about gibberish….
“Pretty much all gibberish. Taxes will not have to be raised. They might need to increase but …”
Comment by Lurker Monday, May 8, 23 @ 3:40 pm
—enough to cover increased funding for services for intellectually and developmentally disabled residents and put the state in compliance with a federal consent decree—
the federal consent decrees have been here much longer than the medicaid for immigrants. That is a very disingenuous comparison. Now, if you had been advocating for fully funding these services for our individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, then you may have a good argument. The ligas consent decree was approved by the courts in 2011, 12 years ago. Here is a question for you since you are suddenly recognizing the need to fund these services. Do you support the $4.00 an hour requested raise for the staff providing service to these individuals? Are you now in support of fully funding the consent decrees? Is this an attempt to pit our most vulnerable citizens like pawns against persons who are seeking a better life?
Comment by T.S. Monday, May 8, 23 @ 3:47 pm
==the dishonest projection==
I don’t think it was dishonest. It was done based on the best available information and that information turned out to be garbage.
Comment by Demoralized Monday, May 8, 23 @ 3:49 pm
Demoralized- I didn’t say anything was dishonest- if was just rammed through on the assumption that turned to be off by 50O plus percent. The simple solution is to either cancel the program or limit its cost to what was represented to taxpayers. We don’t need more costly programs when the State has difficulties paying for what was already on the table
Comment by Sue Monday, May 8, 23 @ 4:10 pm
===The simple solution===
Simple solutions are usually neither. Nobody wants to pull the plug on health insurance for human beings.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 8, 23 @ 4:11 pm
The budget is in for a “rough landing” if has to pay all of the increased costs of the new Medicaid for immigrants. Possibly the city could help out with their $700 million surplus. That would help smooth out the “budget landing”.
Comment by DuPage Monday, May 8, 23 @ 4:17 pm
@Sue:
I don’t think I accused you of that. I was responding to another comment.
Comment by Demoralized Monday, May 8, 23 @ 4:20 pm
Rich- implementing new and unfunded programs for folks who are in the country unlawfully in a State with the nations most unfunded pension program and with other pressing needs is the definition of irresponsible - I wonder how the program would poll if voters understood the cost was between 5 and 6 times what their elected officials represented when enacting it
Comment by Sue Monday, May 8, 23 @ 6:33 pm
===I wonder how the program would poll===
The only poll that matters on this one is 60-30-1.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 8, 23 @ 7:47 pm