CHICAGO (AP) — It's a tricky math problem to get to the $2.7 billion that Gov. Pat Quinn wants cut out of Illinois's projected Medicaid spending, and four lawmakers designated to take a first shot at it will have a tough time figuring out what to subtract.
They'll look at services such as the obesity surgery that helped 41-year-old Cicero, Ill., resident Nova Taggart get off diabetes drugs. They'll look at payments to hospitals that are already struggling. Should people on Medicaid be able to get two pairs of eyeglasses each year? Or one pair every other year? Should poor adults get their dental care covered?
A menu of possible cuts prepared by Quinn's administration includes few dollar figures and those numbers don't add up to $2.7 billion. That's because specific dollar amounts for various options are still being calculated for the bipartisan legislative working group, Quinn senior health adviser Michael Gelder said Thursday, a day after the governor said Medicaid "is on the brink of collapse" in his budget address.
But what's clear, Gelder said, is that lawmakers will have to choose everything on the list of possible Medicaid cuts to get to the $2.7 billion proposed by Quinn. For example, all the listed options short of cutting payments to hospitals, doctors and pharmacies add up to only $1.9 billion, he said. Rate cuts to providers are needed to reach the target.
The amount the state needs to cut "is overwhelming. It's awe-inspiring," Gelder said. "I'd say 'inconceivable,' but we have to begin to conceive this. It's of Herculean proportion."
The list is not a proposal from the governor's office or from the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which prepared it. "The menu of possible options does not reflect the administration's proposal; it will require bipartisan cooperation for final decision," the document dated Feb. 22 states.
The list includes some items that probably seem reasonable to people covered by private insurance plans: Limiting the number of eyeglasses paid for each year, for example, or eliminating coverage of chiropractors. The current Medicaid program has no annual limit on eyeglasses or chiropractors.
The menu includes limiting — or eliminating entirely — dental care for adults and "durable medical goods" such as walkers and wheelchairs.
The list also include more drastic cuts, such as changing eligibility rules for nursing homes and at-home help so that some incontinent elderly people who can't prepare their own meals would be denied state-financed care.
