Illinois' top budget official says the governor is cutting Medicaid payments as a way to force legislators to restructure the program.
Gov. Pat Quinn cut $270 million in Medicaid reimbursements when he signed the state budget into law last week. "Medicaid is a very ... cost sensitive area that's increasing since 2008 at 5.8 percent a year on average. That's a higher rate than the state can afford. And it squeezes out other priority spending," said David Vaught, Quinn's budget director.
Update | 3:08 p.m. Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady has responded to the governor's posting of the budget online:
"Even though Governor Quinn is putting Illinois in even more economic peril by pushing off his state budget, we're glad Governor Quinn and the Democrats are finally taking steps to listen to Illinoisans after years of mismanagement and 'government knows best' policies. The people of Illinois want to get their state back on track to economic prosperity by promoting pro-growth policies and to getting rid of regulation and uncertainty that leave job creators hesitant.
"The question is if Governor Quinn will listen and actually use the public's input on our economic woes or if this is an underhanded attempt to push off the state budget again and promote his tax increase agenda. Now at $13 billion in the red, Illinois needs to start with widespread reforms and spending cuts to fix our economic landscape. Only when the voters are confident our state government can be trusted to spend their taxpayer dollars should we start talking about increasing taxes." Read more...
