This article explores inefficiencies in the Cook County Health and Hospitals System and the effect that the partial rollback of the sales tax in Cook County may have on the System. The Civic Federation is quoted saying that the tax rollback does not necessarily mean that cuts must be made to the Hospital System to balance Cook County’s budget.
For anyone who missed a last ride on the tilt-a-whirl when Kiddieland closed last month, a quick review of our state’s fiscal situation can provide a similar type of stomach-churning, gravity-defying—though rather less pleasurable—experience. As Illinoisans endure the second year of a historic recession, Illinois government has no budget, no plan, a half-year’s worth of unpaid bills and sky-high piles of pension debt. Budget negotiations in Springfield this year set new lows for fiscal…
While politicians, unions and other supporters of Howe Developmental Center fight to keep it open, a new report from the U.S. Justice Department has raised more questions about Howe’s viability. The report is the result of a federal investigation that began in 2007 under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act. The Justice Department found that Howe failed to protect its residents from attacks and neglect and that it did not provide adequate medical care. Many of the problems “are due…
Tens of thousands of Medicaid recipients and doctors were involved in potentially fraudulent or abusive purchases of prescription drugs in 2006 and 2007 in five states, including Illinois, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO examined cases of potential “doctor shopping,” in which a patient used at least six different doctors. Visits to numerous prescribers can be a way to disguise an addiction or obtain drugs to fraudulently sell, the report said.…
Governor Pat Quinn has decided that the State of Illinois will shut down its troubled Howe Developmental Center in Tinley Park and move residents to other quarters by April 2010. The decision, announced on August 28, 2009, came four months after the General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability on April 28 backed a recommendation by the Illinois Department of Human Services that Howe be closed. The decision also came after a consultant hired by the Governor…
Hoping that Illinois lawmakers will agree to an income tax increase later this year, Governor Pat Quinn chose not to make the necessary cuts to work within the budget approved on July 15, 2009 by the General Assembly. At a press conference on July 31, the Governor said he had already trimmed more than $1 billion from the FY2010 budget that he initially proposed in March. However, Governor Quinn also said that the $26.1 billion appropriated General Funds budget that the legislature approved and…
As Governor Pat Quinn searches for unaffordable programs to cut from the state budget, the fate of the troubled Howe Developmental Center in Tinley Park deserves close attention. Howe, a state-run facility for the developmentally disabled, was decertified by federal authorities in 2007 after reports of substandard care and safety violations, including deaths of residents in unexplained circumstances. As a result, it no longer receives federal funding under the Medicaid program. Since…
The Civic Federation's Institute for Illinois' Fiscal Sustainability wrote this issue brief about the Illinois Medicaid Program. The report provides an overview of Medicaid in Illinois and highlights areas where the program's cost efficiency might be improved. The report recommends that the General Assembly form a joint legislative and gubernatorial commission to launch a review of the future financing of the Illinois Medicaid program, especially with regard to the expiration of federal…
The Civic Federation's Institute for Illinois' Fiscal Sustainability produced this analysis of the proposed FY2010 Illinois operating and capital budgets. The Civic Federation does not support the proposed operating budget because it raises taxes without fixing the state's structural deficit. If significant pension and employee healthcare reforms are implemented, the Federation could support a smaller income tax increase targeted at reducing the state's existing obligations in the areas of…
The Civic Federation's Institute for Illinois' Fiscal Sustainability produced this guide for addressing the state's FY2010 budget. The roadmap provides an in-depth outline of best practices for a budget that would confront the state's growing fiscal crisis, including the areas of state spending, revenue, pensions, employee and retiree health insurance, Medicaid, capital, and asset sales.
