Quinn Fucks us again and even harder when are we going to say fuck you

Illinois Health Care Providers Outraged by Gov. Quinn's Medicaid Proposal

 

Chicago - Hospitals that serve the poor are denouncing reductions in Medicaid proposed today by Gov. Quinn. They say some health care providers may shut down.

As Fox Chicago News reported earlier , the governor today called for more than $2 billion in Medicaid cuts. He also asked the General Assembly to add another $1 a pack to the tax on cigarettes.

Republicans in Springfield vow to block the tobacco tax increase. They demand larger spending reductions in a Medicaid program that last year spent $1.9 billion more than it had. The most passionate pushback, though, comes from the other direction -- outraged inner-city health care providers who previously praised the governor.

Dr. Mark Loafman knows better than most the huge gap between Chicago's medical haves and have nots. He teaches at Downtown's prestigious Northwestern University School of Medicine. And he cares for impoverished patients here at Humboldt Park's Norwegian American Hospital, now facing big layoffs.

“It's not fair. It's not fair to the patients, first of all. It's certainly not fair to the staff,” Loafman said. “And to see that happen even more, to see further cuts, widening that gap between the served and the underserved, um, it's really devastating.”

Even more devastating, said Gov. Quinn, would be a financial collapse of Illinois's Medicaid program, that could come as early as 2017. It's why Quinn today proposed cutting payments to providers by 25 percent.

These are difficult things, important things that are necessary to stabilize a system that is out of control, that is way over budget. And we have to bring it back to Earth, “ Quinn said.

For so-called "safety net" hospitals for the poor, like Norwegian American Hospital, Medicaid pays for more than half the patients. The president of Norwegian American says that a 25 percent rate cut would force big layoffs, perhaps closing programs that treat diabetes, drug addiction and some childhood illnesses.