Health News
Many of the impending Illinois Medicaid cuts are short-sighted and will result in an increase in expenditures. This is particularly true for Medicaid community-living waiver programs that offer services for older adults and younger persons with disabilities.
A 2009 article in The Gerontologist showed that 2006 budget cuts to Michigan's state Medicaid community-living waiver program "were associated with increases in adverse outcomes: ER visits, hospitalizations, and permanent [nursing facility] placement." The study suggests that when we cut Medicaid waiver programs for persons with disabilities, these individuals cannot continue to live at home and require greater use of health services.
The Illinois legislature proposes changing the eligibility criteria for Medicaid community-living waiver programs, much like in Michigan. Let's be clear: this cut will backfire. It will ultimately cost the state more money through increased rates of hospitalization, ER visits and permanent nursing facility placement.
And I haven't even mentioned that there's more than balancing the state's budget at stake: in Olmstead v. L.C., the U.S. Supreme Court mandated a community-living option for all persons with disabilities. With three landmark lawsuits in Illinois recently settled under Olmstead (for mental health, developmental disabilities and physical disabilities), is the state of Illinois seeking to add a fourth lawsuit to the docket?
Kristen Pavle
Associate Director, Center for Long-Term Care Reform
Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
(Originally posted in the Chicago Tribune "Local Voices" here)
- Medicaid: The Long-term Costs Of Short-term Savings
The Rauner Administration?s decision to cut $1.5 billion in Medicaid spending to balance the state budget is like the proverbial cutting off the nose to spite the face. Central to the Rauner ?plan? is to tighten eligibility for people with disabilities...
- Rauner's Budget Is Bad Medicine For State's Health Services
The following post originally appeared on Crain's Chicago Business. The much-anticipated ?turnaround budget? from Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner feels more like a ?look back,? parading out failed ideas from past years. Rauner says this budget "preserves...
- Illinois To Be Awarded Over $90 Million In Medicaid Funds For Home- And Community-based Care
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) section 10202 establishes the Balancing Incentive Payments Program or BIP. BIP offers State Medicaid programs a financial incentive to offer home- and community-based services (HCBS) as an alternative to institutional care...
- Keep Illinois Medicaid Strong: Principles For Financial Stability
The Illinois Medicaid program provides life-saving health coverage to nearly 2.7 million low-income children, parents, seniors, and people with disabilities and behavioral health needs, including addiction and mental illness. However, the program faces...
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Health News
Let's Be Clear: this Cut Will Backfire
A 2009 article in The Gerontologist showed that 2006 budget cuts to Michigan's state Medicaid community-living waiver program "were associated with increases in adverse outcomes: ER visits, hospitalizations, and permanent [nursing facility] placement." The study suggests that when we cut Medicaid waiver programs for persons with disabilities, these individuals cannot continue to live at home and require greater use of health services.
The Illinois legislature proposes changing the eligibility criteria for Medicaid community-living waiver programs, much like in Michigan. Let's be clear: this cut will backfire. It will ultimately cost the state more money through increased rates of hospitalization, ER visits and permanent nursing facility placement.
And I haven't even mentioned that there's more than balancing the state's budget at stake: in Olmstead v. L.C., the U.S. Supreme Court mandated a community-living option for all persons with disabilities. With three landmark lawsuits in Illinois recently settled under Olmstead (for mental health, developmental disabilities and physical disabilities), is the state of Illinois seeking to add a fourth lawsuit to the docket?
Kristen Pavle
Associate Director, Center for Long-Term Care Reform
Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
(Originally posted in the Chicago Tribune "Local Voices" here)
- Medicaid: The Long-term Costs Of Short-term Savings
The Rauner Administration?s decision to cut $1.5 billion in Medicaid spending to balance the state budget is like the proverbial cutting off the nose to spite the face. Central to the Rauner ?plan? is to tighten eligibility for people with disabilities...
- Rauner's Budget Is Bad Medicine For State's Health Services
The following post originally appeared on Crain's Chicago Business. The much-anticipated ?turnaround budget? from Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner feels more like a ?look back,? parading out failed ideas from past years. Rauner says this budget "preserves...
- Illinois To Be Awarded Over $90 Million In Medicaid Funds For Home- And Community-based Care
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) section 10202 establishes the Balancing Incentive Payments Program or BIP. BIP offers State Medicaid programs a financial incentive to offer home- and community-based services (HCBS) as an alternative to institutional care...
- Keep Illinois Medicaid Strong: Principles For Financial Stability
The Illinois Medicaid program provides life-saving health coverage to nearly 2.7 million low-income children, parents, seniors, and people with disabilities and behavioral health needs, including addiction and mental illness. However, the program faces...
- Class Act, Voluntary Long-term Care Insurance Program Of Affordable Care Act, Is Called-off
On October 14, 2011, the Obama Administration announced that the voluntary long-term care insurance program of the Affordable Care Act, the ?CLASS Act,? is not viable for implementation. The announcement came from Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the United...