* Many kudos to the Illinois Information Service for live-streaming Gov. Quinn’s 11:30 am joint announcement today with his Taxpayer Action Board’s chairman about the board’s budget reform recommendations. You can listen live by clicking here.
Then, at about 1:30 this afternoon, the governor will hold a press availability following his meeting with the legislative leaders. That, too, will be live-streamed. Click here to listen.
If you can live-blog the events in comments, you’d be a big help to others. Thanks.
*** UPDATE - 11:44 am *** You can read the Taxpayer Action Board report by clicking here.
* There are some harsh comments in the “Minority Report” section, which begins on page 107. This is from TAB member Dory Rand…
In the same “Medicaid Spending” section, the report states that “Medicaid is now the largest single state expense in Illinois, accounting for over 40% of general fund appropriations.” This statement of the expenditure level does not account for the large role of federal funds. It is astonishing that this report does not isolate the state funds spending in Medicaid as its sole focus. The TAB was created to deal with state spending. This report deliberately hides the state spending aspect of Medicaid. The dimensions of this error and its potential to mislead the discussion are substantial. In fiscal year 2006, for example, the state money devoted to Medicaid was 19.4% of state general revenue spending and 18.6% of state funds spent in the entire budget (compared to the 40% that the report uses by including the huge federal portion of the program in its sole statement of Medicaid’s part of the budget).
* And this one was written by frequent blog commenter and former budget director Steve Schnorf, with co-signors Woods Bowman, Dory Rand and Richard Sewell…
In three instances at least, I believe you are being directed toward fixing things that probably aren’t really very broken, and that might not be a best use of your time and energy.
Schnorf makes a whole lot of very good points, particularly about Medicaid. His remarks start at page 121. Go read them.
* This is a very interesting recommendation from the majority report…
To dramatically reduce the prison population by reviewing the prisoners’ records to identify inmates that may no longer represent a significant risk to society, and to allow those individuals to re-enter society under state supervision.
* More from the report…
While across-the-board operating cuts are often criticized as a sledgehammer approach, which can miss large opportunities for cost reductions and penalize disproportionately those programs that are already
operating efficiently, a cut of 2-3% in all budget lines from the FY09 appropriation level would save considerable costs and is an option the State should review.
That would actually be a tiny percentage of what the governor’s office is looking at now. In other words, a vast improvement over the current plan.
* Schnorf’s conclusion in his minority report…
You can, and I believe you will, get some savings from the suggestions in this report. It probably won’t equal billions and it certainly won’t all happen over 12-18 months. Good luck.
*** UPDATE - 12:53 pm *** From the AP…
The board says the state could save $95 million by managing the care of Medicaid patients more effectively and as much as $65 million by releasing some nonviolent offenders from state prisons.
The Senate GOP has claimed that managed care would save $3 billion, and the Tribune editorial page has fully bought into the notion.
…Adding… Here’s what the report claims, with a footnote explaining it…
Promote cost-effective care management strategies that focus on the health of the person, promote prevention and wellness, and provide a medical home. (2) [$95 million savings in FY 10]
(2) Estimates reflect cost savings created by a decrease in the projected growth rate of Medicaid expenditures, not a spending cut from the current budget level.
*** UPDATE - 3:13 pm *** The live presser never happened, but the governor did talk to reporters and there is a downloadable audio file. Listen here.