HEALTH CARE: Many different prescriptions pushed

Posted on Sun 10-15-06 at PJStar.com

HEALTH CARE: Many different prescriptions pushed

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/101506/TRI_BB8C8K27.037.shtml

Sunday, October 15, 2006

By ELAINE HOPKINS

of the Journal Star

The candidates provided written answers to questions on health care, revealing their overall philosophies about governmental involvement in health issues ranging from who gets state coverage to how the state will pay for it.

Republican Judy Baar Topinka is wary of expanding state-funded health insurance and worries about paying the bills for programs such as Medicaid.

She would "control Medicaid growth," by slowing its growth rate, though she offered no details on who would be affected.

"Everyone currently eligible for Medicaid will remain eligible under my plan, but Medicaid should move to a system more like private health-managed care plans," she stated.

She would fund overdue Medicaid bills with new revenues

from increased gambling.

She supports the current KidCare program but would cap the "All Kids" program so that children in families with incomes of $100,000 or more are not eligible.

"State government should not ask working people making $30,000 or $40,000 to subsidize the health care for families making more than $100,000," she wrote.

Democrat Rod Blagojevich touts his expansion of state health insurance programs for children and families, including controversial pharmaceutical drug plans for the elderly.

"Since I became governor, we have been able to provide health-care coverage for over 400,000 more working families and children. All children in Illinois will have access to affordable, accessible health insurance. I would like to work to get even more people covered," he wrote.

He opposes "means testing" for the All Kids program, saying it's aimed at covering all uninsured children.

Overdue Medicaid bills are being addressed, he stated, explaining that funds recently released from the state budget will reduce the payment backlog to 60 days.

He stopped short at advocating a single-payer system. He has pledged not to raise sales or income taxes.

Green Party candidate Rich Whitney would push for single payer health-care coverage in Illinois and fund it by raising state income taxes on the top 40 percent of earners.

"I support single payer health care, not more bureaucratic schemes intended to placate the insurance lobby and keep inefficient private health insurers in the loop," he stated.

"Medicaid funds would be folded into the new universal health-care system (with) a payroll-based source of revenue which would give us the wherewithal to pay health-care providers on time, for all services rendered," he stated.

Those who study health-care issues agree that access to coverage is both the main problem in Illinois and the major issue of the campaign, though other issues also are important to them.

"The top issue (in the fall elections) is affordable, accessible health care in Illinois," said Jim Duffett, executive director of the Campaign for Better Health Care, an Urbana-based advocacy group.

Voters can choose between two paths, he said.

"One will stop the progress that has been made," he said, referring to Topinka's comments on slowing Medicaid growth and capping All Kids.

"If (Topinka) is unwilling to take a proactive stance, the stagnation of our (state's) economy and the health of its citizens will be worse," he said.

The president of the Illinois Hospital Association, Ken Robbins, worries about a possible hospital meltdown. Unless the growth of the uninsured is halted, "it will be beyond the means of hospitals to become the health-care provider of last resort," he said.

He praised Blagojevich for not cutting back Medicaid to control budget problems, and for expanding coverage. Problems with low payments and late payments likely will continue, he said.

A single payer system won't work on a state-by-state basis, he said. "It should be on a national basis if that's the way people want to go."

Andrea Parker, administrator of the Peoria City/County Health Department, also serves on the legislative committees of both the Illinois Association of Public Health Administrators and the Illinois Public Health Association.

She said her agency needs more funding for its programs and mentioned the lack of dental coverage and care for adults as a serious health issue. "Without good dental care, you get systemic problems," she said.

The health department offers dental care to uninsured children but lacks the resources to provide that care to adults, she said.

Dr. Rodney Lorenz, dean of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, said the state's failure to adequately fund medical education sends a bad message to students. "The message is, make as much money as you can because you need to do it to make up for high tuition. I don't think that's the message we should be sending," he said.

Medical research "clearly is at the bottom of the state's priority list," he said. "If you keep that up for long, you pay a price."

Robert Rich, director of the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs, said, "In many ways Illinois is a leader in the nation from an access perspective," he said. "The problem is, how do you finance that?"

Illinois voters on Nov. 7 will decide whether to expand access, "as the governor has done," or "emphasize the cost issue," he said. "The voters will make up their minds."

Elaine Hopkins can be reached at 686-3247 or ehopkins@pjstar.com

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