(CHICAGO) – In a report released today, the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability proposes a comprehensive three-year plan that addresses Illinois’ ongoing financial crisis with painful but necessary spending limits and revenue enhancements. The full 55-page report is available here. More than seven months into the current fiscal year, the State of Illinois continues…
A new report by Governor Bruce Rauner’s administration projects that the State of Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills could grow to $25.0 billion in FY2019 from $4.4 billion in FY2015 based on current tax and spending policies. The three-year forecast, issued on January 6, 2016, covers FY2017 through FY2019. It also includes actual budget results for FY2015, which ended on June 30, 2015, and…
On September 9, 2015, the Cook County Board of Commissioners approved the preliminary budget of the County’s public health system for the fiscal year that begins on December 1, 2015 and runs through November 30, 2016. The vote cleared the way for inclusion of the preliminary budget in the County Board President’s overall FY2016 budget recommendation, which is scheduled to be announced in October…
The State of Illinois recently enacted legislation designed to close a $1.6 billion budget gap for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2015. This blog post reviews the causes of the operating deficit and examines Public Acts 99-0001 and 99-0002, which were signed by Governor Bruce Rauner on March 27. As explained here, the State faced a steep decline in revenues in FY2015 because of the…
The fate of a proposal to use more than $5 billion in new federal funds to overhaul the State of Illinois’ Medicaid program remains unclear as a new gubernatorial administration takes office in Springfield. As previously discussed on this blog, the five-year proposal focuses on developing more community-based alternatives to institutional care for individuals with disabilities, including…
As the State of Illinois nears its deadline for moving Medicaid recipients into managed care, three managed care organizations have been disciplined for providing poor quality medical care or failing to comply with operational requirements. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) announced on November 14, 2014 that Harmony Health Plan, Family Health Network and Illinois…
In the past few months, it has become evident that Illinois vastly underestimated the number of newly eligible recipients who would sign up for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. However, the fiscal implications of the unexpectedly strong enrollment remain unclear. Governor Pat Quinn said on September 30, 2014 that 468,000 newly eligible individuals had enrolled in Illinois’ Medicaid…
Despite Illinois’ tight budget for the current fiscal year, the State enacted major Medicaid legislation featuring increased payments to nursing homes and hospitals. Public Act 98-0651 covers 231 pages and was the result of months of negotiations involving legislators, State officials and healthcare providers. The legislation was introduced as an amendment to an existing bill on May 26, 2014—the…
The Illinois Supreme Court’s recent ruling on health insurance for State retirees is expected to increase State costs by approximately $128 million through FY2015, according to the Department of Central Management Services. Although litigation is ongoing, the high court’s decision apparently means the State will bear the cost of health insurance premium increases previously charged to retirees.…
More Illinois residents than originally projected are signing up for Medicaid as a result of the federal Affordable Care Act, but the long-term impact on the State budget remains unclear. Illinois officials had initially projected that 241,500 new recipients would sign up by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30, 2014. The current enrollment estimate for year-end FY2014 is 78.1% higher…
