COOK COUNDY, WHICH RUNS ONE OF THE BIGGEST PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEMS IN THE NATION, IS BRACING FOR A BODGET AS US HOUSE Advanced Sweeping Cuts to Health Insurance for Millions of Low-InCome People.
But the uncetainty about just how Steep the Cuts Could Be Could Last for Months With the Wide-Ranging Proposal Now Heading to the US Senate. The Measure Wauld DRASTICALLY SCALE BACK MedicaidThe Public Health Insurance Program for People Who Are Low-Incom or Disabled. The Federal Government and States typically split the cost.
“We’re Clearly Going to Suffer a Financial Hit,” Said Cook County Board President Tony Preckwinkle. “The Only Question is what the magnitude of that is.”
At the Same Time, Facing a Massive Budget Hole, Illinois Lawmakers are set to end Health Insurance for More than 30,000 Immigrant Adults Mostly With Legal Status Starting July 1. But preckwinkle is preparing in case and more, erasing coarse for immigrant seniors, too. Combined, Cook County Receives About $ 160 Million A Year in Revenue from the State Immigrant Health Insurance Programs.
The Cascade of Financial Losses Could Be profound to the County of Bottom and Ripple Out to the People they Serve-Far Low-InCome and Immigrant Patients at COUNDY HEALTH, and More Broadly to Ordinary Residents WHO COUNTY LIKE or GETTING TAXTY TAXTY TAXTY TAX Bills on Time.
In illinois, more than 3 million People have Medicaid – Around One in Four in the State. This program the funds Everything from seniors in nursing homes and motherors and their newborns, to People with Disabilities and Those Living with HIV. New Research Suggests that Having Medicaid Coverage Saves Lives.
What preckwinkle said she’s woried about the Most is cuts to Medicaid, Which Makes Up Around 56% of How Much County Health Gets Paid to Treat Patients. The County Has a Mission to Treat People No Matter If They Can Pay and Already Provides by Far The Most Discouunted Care to patients in the entity state, Public Health Data Shows.
COUNTY OFFICALS Expects this amout to climb. Community Health Centers and Other Hospitals that serve low-income communities are all bracing for potentially more patients to Lose Medicaid Coverage. IF THAT HAPPENS, Leaders at these clinics are mulling whether to lay off workers, scale back hours or close. This Wold Potentially Funnel More Patients to the County, Which Might Now Have a Hard Time Getting Paid to Treat.
Dan Fulwiler, CEO of Esperanza Health Centers, Which Treats Mostly Latino Patients on the Southwest Side, Predicts A Potentially Dangerous and Costly that Includes Longer Wait to See a Doctor. Patients who put off managing their diabetes, for example, then get sicker and Become Much more Expensive to Treat in the Emergency Department.
“All of Those Things are going to create more pressures on County,” Fulwiler Said. “They’re the absolute end of the safety net.”
Planning in the Dark
All of this is unfolding as Cook County Starts to Next Year’s Budget. This Year, The Spending Total Plan Nearly $ 10 BillionBuoyed by $ 1 Billion in Pandemic Relief Dollars soon to run out that funded guaranteed incomeAnti-Violence Measures and Housing for the Homeless.
But it is hard to plan with the knowing just how Much they could have a federal Support, Preckwinkle Said. She won’t provide details on what Might be scaled back, though she said her administration is taking a hard look at what’s absolutely necessary and what they might not be able to sustain.
Still, there are some clues for how Much is at stake. For Example, The House Bill Requires, with Some Exceptions, Medicaid Enrolles Work (Research Shows Most already will). The County Says Work Requirements Could Lead to a $ 88 million Annual Loss. That’s Based on states estimates and what happy in arkansas, when Around 18,000 People Lost Coverage Either Because they didn’t have a nonb or gcause of the confusing process to keep their insurance, accorting to kff, a non-partisan health policy research organization.
The Federal Government Also Wauld Reduse from 90% to 80% How Much they Share the Cost of Adults Who Joined Medicaid Wen The Expander Under the Affordable Care Act to States Illinois end health care for undocumented adults and children. If this happened, the states has a law that would end the expansion program and estimates at Least 700,000 People Would Lose Insurance. The project impact to COOK County Health: Around $ 200 million a year.
All of these losses could translate into an increase in Charity care, or discouned care, for county patients if they can’t affford to pay their Medical Bills. In 2023, this total nearly $ 140 million at the County’s Flagship John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital on the near west side alone, almost six times than the next closest hospital, accorting to a wbez analysis of the Most Recent Illinois Public Health Data.
The Vast County Health System Also Includes Provider Hospital on the South and A Group of Clinics Throughout the City and Suburbs. MOS Patients Are Low-Incom, Black or Latino.
“Its hard to know where People will turn immediately to us,” Preckwinkle Said. “Sometimes People will their Own System is no longer available to say, they just postpone care unly the’re’re sick, and then maybe end up in our emergency room, and from there on. they’ll have on us. “
Dr. ERIK MIKITIS, CEO of COOK COUNDY HEALTH, PREDICTS THAT PEOPLE WITH PRIVATE Insurance will be affected by Medicaid cuts. For example, they is could ther at their local hospital packed with patients who are suddenly uninsured, increasing everyone.
Mikititis Said he doesn’t plan to cut Services or lay off staff at the health System he runs.
“WE’RE GOING TO DO MUCH AS CAN FOR LONG AS CAN,” MIMITIS SAID. “We’re Committed to Our Mission to ENSURING THATE EVEREON HAS ACCESS TO CARE.”
Sean Morrison, The Only Republican on the County Board, Said He’s “Catiously Optimistic” Potential Medicaid Changes Cut Too Deep. He Supports the Mission of County County Health, but Said “A Lot of this Has Been Political Theater” from Democrats, disproportion that republicans would be actually cut medicaid. He points to work Requirements instead.
But he acknowledges the country wuld have to absorb the cost of treating People who Lose Health Insurance, and that Could Mean Other Services Could the Price. He Suggests a Few Solutions, Such As Having Immigrants Return to their Home Countries, Raising Taxes or Cutting Back on Programs Guaranteed Income to Fund Medical Care Insaad.
“Is the Notion of Government Taks Care of EveryThing Ever A Sustainable Model? No, of Course Not,” Morrison Said.
Hope Amid Uncetainty
Dr. Mark Loafman Has Workhed for About 30 Years Trying to Prevent Some of the Poorest People FROM Getting So Sick They Wind up in the Emergency Department and Standing Outside of
Lately, he said there’s a lot of anxiety Packed into his appointments. His patients at COOK COUNDY HEALTH ASK How the potential Medicaid Cuts Might AFFECT say.
“And of the Course, I have had the Answer for say,” Said Loafman, Who Leads Family and Community Medicine. “We have a know that ours immigrant population is probably first up (to Lose Insurance), and that’s Coming Soon, and then Others will follow.”
Over the years, as politicians across the country debate whether to cut Medicaid, he said he’s learned not to panic. Both sides of the political aisle in washington usually come to pass a budget that makes sense.
But this time, Loafman Said It Feels Different – Unprecedent.
“I think this feels more hars and more certin that there is going to be an almost devastation level of customs for out of our patients,” Loafman Said. “We’re just going to have to, as we always do, find a way to get through it.”
Still, he’s hopoful.
“I think it going to be tough, but that will will be create the visibility that we need so that the People who aren’t paying athening to this, WHO DONEE WHAT I SEE DAY, CAN HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF A CHANGE AND MAYBEK AND SPEK and LIKE SPEAK and LIKEK SPEAK and LIKEK SPEK Social Media Feed and Begin to Pay Attention, ”Loafman Said. “Think that’s what will will us out of this.”
Kristen Schorsch Covers the Health of the Region for Wbez.
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