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Say what you want about him, but Governor Rod Blagojevich definitely cares about expanding the Medicaid program.
Illinois [is] one of only two states, along with Maine, that is still actively expanding its Medicaid rolls. […]Illinois enrollment stood at 1.38 million in 1997 and was exactly the same four years later. Enrollment has skyrocketed since, to 1.74 million last year. It will stand at an estimated 2 million once the expansions in eligibility for children and working parents enacted the past two years are fully in effect.
Republicans (and many Democrats) have argued that the governor’s Medicaid expansion will eventually bust the budget. But the guv argues it’s a priority and, if money is an indicator, has placed Medicaid higher on his list than education funding.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 14, 05 @ 12:25 am
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The New York Times March 14 editorial on Medicaid is worth reading.
Simply adding people to the rolls is a politically expedient approach, potentially increasing the number of voters for the guv,
but there are more complex issues, laid out in the editorial, which the governor does not appear to be addressing.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 14, 05 @ 1:43 am
This post has been removed by the author.
Comment by Dan Johnson-Weinberger Monday, Mar 14, 05 @ 4:11 pm
The editorial called on Congress to fund long-term care through Medicare, so that Medicaid dollars do not have to go towards so many nursing homes. It isn’t clear, Anon, what other ‘complex issues’ you want Governor Blagojevich to address. I don’t think it’s politically expedient to spend more money on health care — it’s not easy to find those dollars to go to working families who do not make contributions and might not vote in primaries. I think the Medicaid budget is an example of Blagojevich doing the right thing — without a ton of credit or headlines.
Comment by Dan Johnson-Weinberger Monday, Mar 14, 05 @ 4:13 pm
Well, Mr. J-W, for one, there is the problem of the middle class elderly divesting themselves
of assets to ensure eligibility
for nursing home care. It’s nice
to leave money to the kids, but
should the rest of us have to pay for this?
It would take real leadership to deal with that problem.
Again, it’s easy, and politically
rewarding to add people to the government rolls. But it’s hard
to deny or reduce benefits even where they are clearly unwarranted. That’s the real test of a capable leader.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 15, 05 @ 2:27 am
I would have to see the actual figures on voting rates for working families to assess Mr. J-W’s comment. Clearly, the governor,
by expanding the Medicaid rolls,
is governing towards his liberal
Democratic base in Illinois. And liberal Democrats love those expanding government programs.
Have we heard anything from the guv
on the problem of the non-indigent elderly divesting themselves of assets so that the government pays for their nursing home care. It’s a national as well as local issue,
but we’ve not seen any local policy on that. That would take real leadership.
Is Mr. J-W a lobbyist for the guv in real life? The tone of your
post suggests this, at least to
an unsophisticated outsider to the political blog field.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 15, 05 @ 2:46 am
How do I delete a duplicate entry on this blog?
I didn’t intend to enter comments twice but the first time I entered, I got an error message when done, so I checked, it wasn’t posted, I re-entered, also got an error message, gave up, then later
saw both were posted.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 15, 05 @ 5:04 am
It may be nice to add recipients to the rolls and it makes for good headlines, however the State of Illinois simply cannot afford to pay for these extra recipients. Currently a vendor(doctor, hospital, nursing home, pharmacy) to the Medicaid program has to wait 90 days for payment. And if that is not bad enough, there is no consistency to the payment cycle. Sometimes it is 30 days sometimes it is 120 days. This just wreaks havoc on the normal business cycle and vendor-payor relationship. Also, the budgeting cycle is putting in the expectation that for the next fiscal year the payment cycle is going to be 75 days! Also just 5% of the medicaid recipients suck up 70% of the budget.
Therefore, it is a very risky proposal to add more people to the rolls. If you get just one of the people in the 5% group your budget continues to be shot.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 15, 05 @ 8:47 am