Progress Illinois -

Finding A Way To Pay

Adam Doster — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:16:57 -0800

The backlog of payments to Medicaid providers is a serious problem in Illinois. When these notoriously low reimbursements to primary care physicians administering care to Medicaid patients don't arrive on time, it makes the doctors increasingly reluctant to treat that population. That diminishes health care access for some of the state's most vulnerable citizens, thus raising the potential for public health outbreaks and preventive disease and deaths. It's an unsound system, both economically and morally.

Since the recession hit, Illinois has been making payments to most providers by the skin of its teeth, thanks almost exclusively to President Obama's stimulus bill, which provided $2.9 billion in short-term federal aid. Congress could pass along a little more help if the Democrats' health care reform bill passes; the version that the House approved provides $23.5 billion for state legislatures to pay a higher share of all Medicaid costs -- 66 percent on average, up from 57 percent prior to the stimulus -- for an additional six months in 2010.

This morning, the state also took some independent action aimed at solving this problem, as Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law HB 542, sponsored by Rep. Dan Reitz (D-Sparta) and Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg (D-Evanston). The bill frees up $120 million from the state's Hospital Assessment Program to make payments to hospitals treating a high level of Medicaid patients, as well as pharmacists and smaller medical providers previously shafted by the stop-gap state budget. Making good on those payments could trigger additional matching funds from Washington, totaling an estimated $1.1 billion over the next two years. Here's Schoenberg's statement:

“Hospitals and other health care providers are key economic engines in communities all over the state, with hospitals employing nearly a quarter of a million Illinoisans and supporting many other businesses, including suppliers and vendors,” said Sen. Schoenberg. “At a time when unemployment continues to climb, this legislation will also create an immediate economic stimulus to preserve jobs and provide the residents of our state continued access to quality health care.”

Accessing all of the available resources is smart policy. And hopefully, Congress will ante up more state aid shortly to counteract the boom/bust budgetary pressures here in Illinois.

But let's be clear: These are short-term fixes to a problem that's dogged Illinois since well before the economy collapsed. Contrary to the talking points you'll hear from the Illinois Republican Party, the state is making solid progress at controlling rising Medicaid costs. We just need sustainable revenue to ensure we can pay the bills going forward.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user Big Grey Mare.

Around The Horn

Progress Illinois — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:35:00 -0800

Below are our daily picks from the Illinois blogosphere and media at large:

Hard Labor
Chicago-based labor reporter Claire Bushey is launching a new blog at True/Slant. She explains the inspiration for the project in her first post.

Tamms Tour
As part of his 10-part reform plan for the Tamms Correctional Center, Illinois Department of Corrections Director Michael Randle opened the prison to the media this week. To compliment its reporting, the Belleville News-Democrat produced a short video of the tour.

No Legal Barrier
According to OpenLeft's Chris Bowers, there don't appear to be any legal barriers to using leftover Wall Street bailout money to fund a new jobs bill.

To receive our “Around The Horn” update in your inbox every afternoon—along with links to our top stories and the breaking news of the day—sign up for the Progress Illinois Extra. You can also learn what we're reading via our Twitter feed.

Ald. Colon On The Parking Meter Lease: "We Should Have Bit The Bullet"

Angela Caputo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:09:34 -0800

The Windy City edition of the New York Times debuted today, featuring an article on the controversial parking meter lease from veteran City Hall reporter Dan Mihalopoulos, now with the Chicago News Cooperative.

In his report, Mihalopoulos digs into the books of Chicago Parking Meters LLC, the private company that now controls the city's meters under a 75-year, $1.15 billion deal with the city. He found -- not surprisingly -- that the company's profits are growing steadily, generating $1.1 million per week, thanks to the higher rates they instituted after taking over the system. With more gradual increases on the way, the company is projected to collect $46.9 million this year and $79.5 million in 2010.

The most candid remark in Mihalopoulos' piece came from Ald. Rey Colon (35th Ward), who was one of five aldermen to vote against the 2008 ordinance approving the parking meter deal:

Another of the naysayers on the Council, Rey Colon, said this week that the parking meter company’s own numbers showed that aldermen should have raised parking charges and kept the money that the increases would have generated.

“At this rate, it was a great deal for the parking meter company,” he said. “I don’t know if it was a good deal for the city. We should have just bit the bullet and done it ourselves.”

Mayor Daley and some of the aldermen who supported the deal like to make the argument that the city could not have "bit the bullet and done it ourselves" for political reasons. They further argue that their chosen path -- offloading the responsibility for the system to a private company (who then raises the rates) in return for an immediate windfall -- was a safer approach. But was it? As then-Inspector General David Hoffman noted in his report on the deal, it's not like the mayor and the city council dodged the bullet; indeed, they've have still taken a great deal of flack for the rising parking costs (not to mention the botched implementation). Furthermore, other cities have managed to hike rates and generate revenue for their operating budgets without experiencing some apocalyptic voter backlash. Some of them, such as San Francisco, are even using their meter system to experiment with innovative congestion controls. It'll be 75 years before we have a chance to do the same.

To add insult to injury, the proceeds of the deal are almost gone thanks to the city's gaping budget deficit, so taxpayers will soon have little to show for the lease. CPM, however, will make out just fine.

The question now is whether the City Council will learn from its mistake. So far, a mere 12 of the council's 50 members have signed on to Ald. Scott Waguespack's (32nd Ward) Asset Lease Taxpayer Protection Ordinance, which would require an “independent third-party valuation” on any future asset sales, including “a comparison of public retention and private leasing over the life cycle of the agreement." As Waguespack himself said recently, it's time to acknowledge that "the old way of doing things no longer works."

Cook County Takes A "Huge Step" Towards Relieving Foreclosure Crisis

Angela Caputo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:21:28 -0800

After the Cook County Board of Commissioners finally agreed yesterday to fund foreclosure mediation services, housing advocates are celebrating the move as "a huge step" towards stemming the problem.

As regular readers know, it's been a tough slog for those community activists -- led by the group Action Now -- who've been pushing the county to devote more resources to mediation -- a proven method of staving off foreclosure. By a vote of 16 to 1, the board approved a $3 million budget amendment introduced by Comm. Earlene Collins (D) at the behest of Board President Todd Stroger and Cook County's Chief circuit court Judge Tim Evans (Republican Comm. Tony Peraica was the lone dissenter).

Like elsewhere in the state, foreclosures continue to pile up in Cook County. During a roundtable on WTTW's Chicago Tonight yesterday, MB Bank Vice President Thomas FitzGibbon noted that one of the biggest challenges in enabling mortgage modifications is getting through the daunting paperwork. "Having a neutral third party helping that consumer, helping that household, fill out the documents is an extremely important part of this whole process," said FitzGibbon, who also sits on the board of the non-profit Neigborhood Housing Services. "Seventy percent of the applications for this service -- for this help that we send out to consumers who we know are in trouble -- never comes back." Watch his remarks (full video here):

Once up and running, Cook County's program will help fill this void. Action Now is hoping that the initiative will follow in the footsteps of a successful mandatory mediation program in Philadelphia. In highlighting the program, the New York Times explained earlier this week how it works:

Under the rules adopted by Philadelphia’s primary civil court, no owner-occupied house may be foreclosed on and sold by the sheriff’s office before a “conciliation conference,” a face-to-face meeting between the homeowner and the lender aimed at striking a workable compromise. Every homeowner facing a default filing is furnished with counseling, and sometimes legal representation [...]

The Philadelphia program forces an outcome by bringing together all the principals in one room. If the mortgage company proves intractable, the homeowner has the right to request mediation in front of a volunteer lawyer serving as a provisional judge, who relays recommendations to the program’s supervising judge. If the judge finds that the mortgage company is not acting in good faith, she can hold the house in limbo by denying permission for a sheriff’s sale.

If all goes according to plan, early next year Cook County homeowners will have the chance to begin working directly with judges and their lenders to modify loans.

In the meantime, if you live in the Chicago area, check out the "How Not To Lose Your House Party" being hosted this Sunday by WBEZ and Vocalo.org. The event is being held in conjunction with the station's extensive series on the local housing crisis.

Dept. Of Bad Headlines: Daily Herald Edition

Adam Doster — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:07:46 -0800

Take a look at this headline from today's Daily Herald:

Reading that, you might guess that the west suburban town of about 150,000 passed a referendum opposing an income tax increase in Illinois. Or perhaps someone polled Naperville residents' on the various tax hike proposals being discussed at the state level. Well, not exactly:

Naperville's business community on Thursday had a chance to voice its concerns about jobs, taxes and the economy directly to Gov. Pat Quinn. [...]

Some [Naperville Chamber of Commerce] members said Thursday an income tax increase would be detrimental to the business community.

John Schmitt, president and CEO of the chamber, said he was not prepared to comment specifically on Quinn's income tax proposal but that the chamber doesn't typically support tax increases. But he was glad the business community had a chance to share its concerns and called the visit productive.

Last we checked, the Naperville Chamber doesn't represent the entire town ...

Ethics Committee: Burris' Actions "Reflected Unfavorably On The Senate"

Josh Kalven — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:20:03 -0800

This just out from Sen. Roland Burris' office:

After months of investigation into the circumstances surrounding the appointment and seating of Senator Roland W. Burris, the Senate Select Committee on Ethics has closed its inquiry and cleared the Senator of any legal wrongdoing.

In a ‘public letter of qualified admonition,’ the Senate Ethics Committee outlined the specific areas of concern that it investigated, and conclusively found no “actionable violations of the law” occurred. [...]

“I am pleased that after numerous investigations, this matter has finally come to a close. I thank the members of the Senate Ethics Committee for their fair and thorough review of this matter, and now look forward to continuing the important work ahead on behalf of the people of Illinois,” said Senator Burris.

The ethics committee is yet to post the full "public letter," but we'll have more updates on their findings once it's released.

UPDATE (10:30 a.m.): And the letter is now available. While declining to take any action against Burris, the committee still had some pretty harsh words regarding his activities and public statements prior to being sworn-in as Barack Obama's U.S. Senate replacement:

The Committee found that you should have known that you were providing incorrect, inconsistent, misleading, or incomplete information to the public, the Senate, and those conducting legitimate inquiries into your appointment to the Senate. The Committee also found that your November 13, 2008 phone call with Robert Blagojevich was inappropriate. Although some of those events happened before you were sworn in as a U.S. Senator, they were inextricably linked to your appointment and therefore fall within the jurisdiction of this committee.

While the Committee did not find that the evidence before it supported any actionable violations fo the law, Senators must meet a much higher standard of conduct. [...]

Again, the Committee has found that your actions and statements reflected unfavorably on the Senate and issues this Public Letter of Qualified Admonition.

Read the whole thing below:

"A TIF Geek If There Ever Was One"

Josh Kalven — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:40:49 -0800

That's how the Reader's Ben Joravsky describes our own Angela Caputo in his latest article on Chicago's tax increment financing (TIF) network. And you can bet she's wearing that badge with pride.

Joravasky's piece also details how state legislators used a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) bill to quietly extend the lifespan of four Chicago TIF districts by 12 years. With little to no debate, the bill was passed by both chambers in the final days of the regular session and signed by the governor in late August. Joravsky later notes that the projects to be subsidized by these districts during the extended period appear worthwhile, at least when compared with "some of the stuff the mayor comes up with, such as the recent $35 million handout to United Airlines." But the process of approving the extension should nonetheless raise eyebrows:

You'd hope that in these calamitous economic times, Governor Quinn, house speaker Michael Madigan, and senate president John Cullerton would feel compelled to hold hearings and engage in debate before effectively raising Chicagoans' property taxes. But you'd hope in vain.

Joravsky further writes about Cook County Clerk David Orr's new TIF search engine and gives some great instructions on how to research the amount of individual property taxes that go into Daley's slush fund. Read the whole thing here.

The Early Bird: November 20, 2009

Progress Illinois — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:02:34 -0800

Cullerton: State Lawmakers Have No Gitmo Control
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) says the General Assembly has no formal control over the decision to relocate Guantanamo Bay detainees to an Illinois prison. While a committee could review the proposal, any vote would be advisory.

Illinois Unemployment Hits 26-Year High
The state's unemployment troubles just keeps growing, according to new data from the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Between September and October, the state's unemployment rate jumped from 10.5 to 11 percent, the highest level in 26 years.

Cook County Board Passes Budget With No Tax Increases
The Cook County Board last night passed a $3 billion budget for next year that holds the line on taxes. Approval came more quickly than in recent years, likely because all but one of the 17 commissioners is up for re-election in 2010.

Heath System Chief Worries About Tax Rollback
Meanwhile, Cook County Health and Hospitals System CEO William Foley warned that a partial rollback of Board President Todd Stroger's controversial sales tax hike could have "huge implications" on the development of the health system's strategic plan. Commissioner Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston) says the spending reduction will be accomplished through attrition.

RTA Approves Quinn's Emergency CTA Plan
The Regional Transportation Authority unanimously approved Gov. Pat Quinn's plan to borrow $166 million to prevent a CTA fare increase. Still, potential service cuts and more than 1,100 layoffs remain on the table.

Users Flood New State Hospital Ranking Site
On its first day of operation, a new website allowing patients to compare rankings of Illinois hospitals for a wide range of performance and cost measurements crashed twice because of high traffic.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user Michael Kappel.

IL-SEN: New Videos Abound!

Adam Doster — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:31:03 -0800

All four Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate Democratic have produced new videos in the last few days. Let's take a look, shall we?

The first comes from David Hoffman, who cut a highlight reel from a forum held by the Northern Illinois Coordinated Campaign Committee in Rockford on Sunday. In the clip, Hoffman discusses the economy, banking reform, the federal deficit, and Afghanistan:

The Hoffman campaign also released a new polling memo this week that The Hill, the Washington Post, and Politico all picked up. While pollster Geoff Garin took pains to argue that Alexi Giannoulias too "flawed" a candidate to beat GOP Rep. Mark Kirk in the general election, the underlying data is similar to other polls we've seen so far (Kirk leads Giannoulias 40-37 percent, but out-distances Hoffman -- whose name identification is at only 26 percent -- by 10 points.) Here's what Giannoulias campaign manager Tom Bowen had to say to the Post's Chris Cilliza:

"Every public poll shows Alexi Giannoulias leading or neck-in-neck with Mark Kirk while David Hoffman is trailing badly. ... He is behind, desperate and now he is running a negative and dishonest campaign, preferring to attack fellow Democrats instead of telling us what he would do in the Senate."

Speaking of the Giannoulias, he earned an endorsement from Illinois' own U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky on Sunday. In this video clip from the press conference, the congresswoman said Giannoulias would be a strong voice for health care reform in the Senate. Watch it:

Health care was also on the mind of Cheryle Jackson, who filmed a short video from Washington D.C. in which she said she was "stupefied by Stupak," the anti-choice amendment slipped into the House reform bill:

Lastly, Jacob Meister has released a video documenting his 32-hour campaign trip through Central Illinois and the Quad Cities:

Full Disclosure: The SEIU Illinois State Council, which sponsors this website, has endorsed Alexi Giannoulias in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

Around The Horn

Progress Illinois — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:47:32 -0800

Below are our daily picks from the Illinois blogosphere and media at large:

A Kink In The Campaign
This week's Reader cover story examines the unorthodox primary race in Illinois' 40th District.

Life Support
At Huffington Post Chicago, Shawn Healy digs into a new study on civic engagement in Illinois.

What Happens Before 2014?
Curious which provisions in the Senate health care bill will take effect immediately if it's passed? Ezra Klein has you covered.