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Medicaid in the crosshairs
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Plug of hole in budget dips into state funds By NICK SWEDBERG The Associated Press
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
ABOVE: Residents of Pine Acres Rehabilitation & Living Center get manicures Wednesday in the main dining area. Kay Coover (right), activities director of Pine Acres, paints resident Hazel Metzger’s nails during the weekly activity. Metzger turned 100 years old Tuesday. BELOW: Melissa Alm, of Pine Acres Rehabilitation & Living Center, paints Dorothy Cramer’s nails Wednesday during manicure time. Kay Coover, activities director of Pine Acres, said that manicures on Wednesdays and bingo on Saturdays are two activities that she will never change for the residents, even if they continue through donations.
County hospitals, care facilities fear proposed program cuts in fiscal ’16 budget By BRETT ROWLAND browland@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposal to cut $1.5 billion from Medicaid in the fiscal 2016 budget could hurt health care facilities throughout DeKalb County and make it more difficult for some people to get medical treatment, health care officials said. The proposed cuts would reduce funding for hospitals in the state by about $735 million through Medicaid rate reductions, according to the Illinois Hospital Association. Local hospital officials said the Medicaid reimbursement rates already do not cover the cost of providing care. Area nursing and rehabilitation facilities also would be affected by the proposed cuts, as would doctors, dentists and others. But the more pressing concern for many is how the proposed cuts would affect the growing number of county residents who rely on Medicaid. As the governor and state legislators work on the budget, KishHealth officials are bracing for Medicaid cuts. How significant the cuts will be depends on lawmakers. “We’re hoping that there will be some ne-
gotiations so the cuts that are implemented will be less than what has been proposed,” said Joseph Dant, vice president of business development at KishHealth System. KishHealth System would lose about $2 million a year if the proposed Medicaid cuts were approved. The nonprofit health care system has an annual operating budget of about $220 million, Dant said. “We are under reimbursement pressure from multiple sources, not just Medicaid,” Dant said. “And we can’t make up the loss with revenue from other sources as readily as in the past.”
To absorb the proposed funding reduction, KishHealth would need to find ways to save money by operating more efficiently and possibly reducing the amount it spends on community services. The health system’s community services include everything from sponsoring local youth sports teams to supporting community groups and events. Leaders of the two-hospital system want to avoid reducing or eliminating any patient services. “The last thing we’d want to cut are direct patient care services,” Dant said. In the short term, the KishHealth officials are more concerned about how the proposed Medicaid cuts will affect access to health care for county residents. “These are typically pretty vulnerable people,” Dant said. “The fear is that fewer practitioners would accept new Medicaid patients.” That could push more people to seek care in hospital emergency rooms, where costs are significantly higher. “For nonemergency cases, [the emergency room] is the most expensive setting for
See MEDICAID, page A7
SPRINGFIELD – A bipartisan agreement to plug a $1.6 billion budget hole includes more than $1.3 billion in fund transfers from a variety of sources to avert shutdowns of Illinois state programs and services. The move, signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday, digs into some of the largest piles of money in the state, including one intended to pay for highway construction, and some lesser known funds, such as ones to promote renewable energy sources and oversee the disposal of used tires. These kinds of funds have at times in past years been raided to help close budget gaps. Rauner’s office said it carefully selected funds this year that have reserves of excess cash on hand. A 2.25 percent across-the-board budget cut will cover what’s left of the shortfall, which arose when the Democrat-majority Legislature passed a $35.7 billion budget last spring that didn’t allocate enough money for expenses. A state child care program needed another $300 million to keeping going through June, while other state programs also were expected to run out of money. Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger announced Friday she would expedite payments to child care providers, some of which had gone six weeks without promised state funding. Illinois Senate President John Cullerton warned that drawing from the funds is a one-shot deal that is “not going to work in the future.” Here are a few fund sweeps, at a glance: Road Fund, $250 million: The largest amount is coming from this fund, which is used to pay for state highway construction. Critics warn a hit to this and similar funds, such as a $50 million sweep from the Motor Fuel Tax, would result in less money for projects and fewer jobs for road crews.
Local Government Tax Fund, $200 million: A portion of a municipality’s sales taxes for restaurants, medicine and drugs goes back to that community. It will make a dent at a time when local governments face a possible threat of losing some of their state income tax share in the budget that begins July 1.
Illinois Power Agency Renewable Energy Resources Fund, $98 million: The Illinois Power Agency oversees this fund, which is intended to promote clean energy.
Used Tire Management Fund, $20 million: Money for this fund comes from See FUNDS, page A7
After search, DeKalb home deemed uninhabitable By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com DeKALB – A home notorious for overgrown foliage and cluttered conditions was deemed hazardous and uninhabitable Friday after a search by local authorities. Police and fire officials arrived at the house at 509 N. Seventh St., at the corner of Fisk Avenue and Seventh, on Friday morning. Complaints from neighbors in the area led authorities to obtain an administrative warrant from a judge that allowed them to enter the home and investigate, according to Lauren Stott, management analyst with the city. She said the resident of the
house was cooperative. The house is owned and occupied by Ray G. Briggs, according to property tax records. “[The investigation] has nothing to do with the resident,” Stott said. “It has everything to do with the property.” DeKalb police and firefighters, fire inspector, DeKalb County Animal Control personnel and inspectors from city building inspection contractor SafeBuilt all searched the home wearing hazmat suits for the initial inspection. Officials finished their search of the house about Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com noon. It has been ordered by the ABOVE LEFT: DeKalb police and the DeKalb Fire Department responded Friday to 509 N. Seventh St. in DeKalb to search the residence after Circuit Court to be properly complaints from neighbors. Here, a DeKalb police officer carries a carton of eggs out the back door in a net. All of the officers were wearing
See UNINHABITABLE, page A7
protective gear and masks upon entering the home. ABOVE RIGHT: DeKalb police and fire officials speak with DeKalb Police Chief Gene Lowery in his vehicle Friday at the home in DeKalb.
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