Within hours of being sworn in as governor, Rauner offered a stark contrast by issuing a freeze on all non-essential spending, immediately followed by ethics and transparency executive orders aimed at deconstructing the disappointing status quo of Springfield politics.
Illinois’ Medicaid reimbursement rates are dropping back to about 54 percent of what the federal Medicare program pays for similar visits and procedures.
There should be little doubt that these access problems will be exacerbated as the state has essentially handed out 500,000 Medicaid cards without providing any additional capacity for patient care.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.