QUOTE OF THE DAY
Governing: States Get a $100 Million Fund to Advance Medicaid Reform
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced the formation of a $100 million technical assistance fund to help states develop and refine reforms to their Medicaid programs.
The fund is the latest among efforts from the Affordable Care Act to make the U.S. health care system more efficient by bankrolling initiatives to begin paying for it differently. That generally means a move away from paying doctors an individual fee for every service and encouraging them to take on more financial risk for their performance or to agree to earn money based on outcomes.
The ACA provides $10 billion for those and other types of programs through 2019 across Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The new fund, called the Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program, will help further the initiatives for which CMS is paying and others that states have taken on themselves, according to the agency.
Chicago Sun Times: Study: Corruption in Illinois costs $1,308 per person
It’s no secret that Illinois is filled with corruption, so much so that an overwhelming 89 percent said it’s common here.
And now we can put a dollar amount on how much all those misdeeds by elected officials are costing taxpayers, thanks to John Mikesell, Indiana University professor of public and environmental affairs, and Cheol Liu, assistant professor of public policy at City University of Hong Kong
According to The Times of Northwest Indiana, the two determined that the 10 most corrupt states in the U.S. — yes, Illinois is on that list — would have spent 5.2 percent less from 1997 to 2008 if those states only had the average amount of corruption.
Crain’s: Yes, Uber is ‘disruptive’ — and that’s not a dirty word
Joe Cahill’s recent column on Uber’s fight with incumbent taxicab companies makes a critical journalistic mistake — burying the lead. About halfway through Mr. Cahill’s column on the future of the ride-services industry, you find these words of wisdom: “But if current rules interfere with market forces to an extent that’s not necessary to ensure safety, perhaps they should be changed for everyone, not just Uber.”
That’s exactly right! The story here isn’t how to get Uber and other ridesharing programs to fit into a 1950s regulatory oversight model. The story is about how to create an environment for a safe ride-service industry in Chicago that challenges the old model and brings it to the 2010s.
Mr. Cahill calls Uber a disruptive force working against an established industry. However, disruption is not a dirty word. It’s an economic necessity if Illinois’ economy is to grow and return to its rightful place as a national leader. Disruption indeed can be painful. More important to the public, it also is an opportunity — in this case, an opportunity for better service and more options without sacrificing safety.
Reuters: Best of muniland on Twitter
Here are the best tweets with the #muniland hashtag for July 15, 2014:
@BeschlossDC : Dulles AIrport DC being built–opened 1962: #MWAA
@davidmwessel :Moody’s: One in 10 public/private colleges suffering “acute financial distress” due to falling revenues, weak operating performance.
@illinoispolicy: Illinois pension debt ranks second-worst in the nation http://t.co/n7DCtF7fcm#muniland
Chicago Tribune: Obama Library foundation raises more than $850,000
A Chicago investment manager with strong ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel is among the contributors who have collectively donated more than $850,000 to the foundation overseeing the development of President Barack Obama’s presidential library, according to disclosures released Tuesday.
The Barack Obama Foundation, headed by Chicago private equity investor Martin Nesbitt, released the list of donors who made contributions of more than $200 during the second quarter. Such a disclosure is a requirement of its nonprofit status.
Michael J. Sacks, CEO of Grosvenor Capital Management, and his wife, Cari, have given between $250,001 and $500,000, the foundation said. Sacks, whom Emanuel appointed as vice chairman of World Business Chicago, the economic development arm of the city, also is one of Emanuel’s largest re-election campaign donors, according to Tribune reports.
Crain’s: New Cook County Health CEO must find millions in savings – stat
Dr. John Jay Shannon waspromoted to CEO at Cook County Health and Hospitals System June 27, and he already has been told to find $67 million in savings in four months.
The health system, one of the largest public hospital networks in the country, is responsible for much of a projected $86 million shortfall in Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s year-end budget figures.
Dr. Shannon says the deficit likely will be less than current projections. But he also says it is unlikely to be erased completely in just a few months.
Bloomberg: Detroit Workers Plead for End to Bankruptcy Pain
Detroit’s current and retired employees pleaded with the judge overseeing the city’s bankruptcy to limit the financial suffering they face from a reorganization plan that imposes $7.4 billion in cuts on them and other creditors.
“I know that some sacrifices have to be made, but I never thought I would be struggling to get health care,” Jesse Florence, a retired city bus driver, told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes today in Detroit federal court. Florence’s health-care premiums jumped from $152 a month to $1,026, he told Rhodes. “This is devastating.”
At the hearing, Rhodes heard from city creditors who aren’t represented by lawyers in Detroit’s record $18 billion bankruptcy. Active and retired city workers, as well as investors, would be forced to take less than the $10.4 billion they are owed if Rhodes approves Detroit’s plan.
The Federalist: Conservatives Won’t Win Millennials With Political Consumerism
Who killed the car of the future?
Was tomorrow’s automotive tech slain by an unholy alliance of Big Oil and the Bush administration? That’s the answer a semi-famous 2006 enviro-documentary clubs over its viewers’ heads.
Or do fancy prototypes fail to scale up because they are vanity projects designed to delight the rich people who fund them, and thus devoid of real market appeal? That’s the conventional conservative claim, followed up with a chuckle and words of praise for the Ford F-150.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
