Congress

Finding A Way To Pay

Adam Doster — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:16:57 -0800

The backlog of payments to Medicaid providers is a serious problem in Illinois. When these notoriously low reimbursements to primary care physicians administering care to Medicaid patients don't arrive on time, it makes the doctors increasingly reluctant to treat that population. That diminishes health care access for some of the state's most vulnerable citizens, thus raising the potential for public health outbreaks and preventive disease and deaths. It's an unsound system, both economically and morally.

Since the recession hit, Illinois has been making payments to most providers by the skin of its teeth, thanks almost exclusively to President Obama's stimulus bill, which provided $2.9 billion in short-term federal aid. Congress could pass along a little more help if the Democrats' health care reform bill passes; the version that the House approved provides $23.5 billion for state legislatures to pay a higher share of all Medicaid costs -- 66 percent on average, up from 57 percent prior to the stimulus -- for an additional six months in 2010.

This morning, the state also took some independent action aimed at solving this problem, as Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law HB 542, sponsored by Rep. Dan Reitz (D-Sparta) and Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg (D-Evanston). The bill frees up $120 million from the state's Hospital Assessment Program to make payments to hospitals treating a high level of Medicaid patients, as well as pharmacists and smaller medical providers previously shafted by the stop-gap state budget. Making good on those payments could trigger additional matching funds from Washington, totaling an estimated $1.1 billion over the next two years. Here's Schoenberg's statement:

“Hospitals and other health care providers are key economic engines in communities all over the state, with hospitals employing nearly a quarter of a million Illinoisans and supporting many other businesses, including suppliers and vendors,” said Sen. Schoenberg. “At a time when unemployment continues to climb, this legislation will also create an immediate economic stimulus to preserve jobs and provide the residents of our state continued access to quality health care.”

Accessing all of the available resources is smart policy. And hopefully, Congress will ante up more state aid shortly to counteract the boom/bust budgetary pressures here in Illinois.

But let's be clear: These are short-term fixes to a problem that's dogged Illinois since well before the economy collapsed. Contrary to the talking points you'll hear from the Illinois Republican Party, the state is making solid progress at controlling rising Medicaid costs. We just need sustainable revenue to ensure we can pay the bills going forward.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user Big Grey Mare.

Ethics Committee: Burris' Actions "Reflected Unfavorably On The Senate"

Josh Kalven — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:20:03 -0800

This just out from Sen. Roland Burris' office:

After months of investigation into the circumstances surrounding the appointment and seating of Senator Roland W. Burris, the Senate Select Committee on Ethics has closed its inquiry and cleared the Senator of any legal wrongdoing.

In a ‘public letter of qualified admonition,’ the Senate Ethics Committee outlined the specific areas of concern that it investigated, and conclusively found no “actionable violations of the law” occurred. [...]

“I am pleased that after numerous investigations, this matter has finally come to a close. I thank the members of the Senate Ethics Committee for their fair and thorough review of this matter, and now look forward to continuing the important work ahead on behalf of the people of Illinois,” said Senator Burris.

The ethics committee is yet to post the full "public letter," but we'll have more updates on their findings once it's released.

UPDATE (10:30 a.m.): And the letter is now available. While declining to take any action against Burris, the committee still had some pretty harsh words regarding his activities and public statements prior to being sworn-in as Barack Obama's U.S. Senate replacement:

The Committee found that you should have known that you were providing incorrect, inconsistent, misleading, or incomplete information to the public, the Senate, and those conducting legitimate inquiries into your appointment to the Senate. The Committee also found that your November 13, 2008 phone call with Robert Blagojevich was inappropriate. Although some of those events happened before you were sworn in as a U.S. Senator, they were inextricably linked to your appointment and therefore fall within the jurisdiction of this committee.

While the Committee did not find that the evidence before it supported any actionable violations fo the law, Senators must meet a much higher standard of conduct. [...]

Again, the Committee has found that your actions and statements reflected unfavorably on the Senate and issues this Public Letter of Qualified Admonition.

Read the whole thing below:

NELP: Without Extension, One Million Will Lose Unemployment Benefits In January

Adam Doster — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:13:49 -0800

Just in the past week, two key Democratic leaders in Washington expressed interesting in crafting a federal jobs package that would likely extend federal unemployment insurance for workers who exhaust their benefits after December 31. But they better move quickly, as more than one million unemployed Americans are scheduled to lose their insurance sometime in January.

That figure comes via a new analysis by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), which has been crunching the unemployment numbers for months now. When the stimulus plan was approved last winter, those looking for work in Illinois were eligible to receive up to 53 weeks of federally-funded insurance, through the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program and the Extended Benefits (EB) program, on top of the 26 weeks of state-backed benefits that are always available. The legislation President Obama signed earlier this month -- deadline glitch and all -- supplied an additional 14 weeks. But the funding for all of these federal programs expires at the end of 2009.

NELP estimates that almost 600,000 workers nationwide will lose eligibility for the next tier of benefits sometime in January. An additional 450,000 workers will exhaust their 26 weeks of states benefits. Even more frightening, the number without federal jobless benefits will balloon to nearly three million workers by March. Unless the 2009 extensions are reauthorized in some form, none of those families will be receiving any additional benefits. "Congress has less than four weeks left on its schedule to legislate this year," NELP executive director Christine Owens said in a statement, "and unless it acts to renew the unemployment provisions during this period, the clock will run out for a million workers."

Check out NELP's graph below:

Hoyer: Unemployment Benefits Extension To Be Considered As Part Of Jobs Bills

Adam Doster — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:09:35 -0800

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has already expressed some interest in extending unemployment insurance through 2010. Now it appears that Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) is thinking along the same lines.

In a news conference today, the House majority leader said now that his chamber has passed its own version of heath care reform, they will move onto a "jobs-creation" package. And another unemployment benefits extension is certainly in the mix, according to CongressDaily (subscription required):

Still, Hoyer said the measure would focus on public jobs, job-creation tax credits, infrastructure projects and assistance to state governments.

"There are a lot of options available," said Hoyer. "We're discussing with economic advisers as to what is the most effective, and frankly there are differences of opinion on that." He said the legislation ought to address another extension of unemployment insurance and adjustments to the health-insurance program that provides coverage to those who recently lost their jobs.

Aside from the benefit extension, it's good to see that state aid and funding for infrastructure projects are high on the priority list of House leaders. These are two areas that got shorted in the Obama administration's first stimulus package that Illinois desperately needs help with. In a joint statement today, a bevy of progressive organizations -- the Economic Policy Institute, the AFL-CIO, Center for Community Change, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, NAACP, and National Council of La Raza -- called on Congress to pass a bill along these lines. "If we act swiftly and decisively," they write, "we can create millions of jobs and provide urgently needed relief to American families."

When can we expect movement on this front? Hopefully, before Christmas. The Washington Post has more:

Tuesday that House leaders have asked key committee chairmen to offer up proposals that would be compiled into a single larger piece of legislation, with a goal of bringing something to a House vote before Dec. 18, when the House hopes to adjourn for the year.

Because the Senate would have to pass its own bill, this deadline wouldn't solve the end-of-the-year filing snafu that prevents anyone from collecting the full extension of unemployment insurance recently approved by Congress. But it would provide a lifeline to the millions of Americans scheduled to exhaust their benefits in 2010.

Small Business Owners Stand Up To Giant Insurance Lobby

Adam Doster — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:32:48 -0800

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) kicked off its annual conference in Chicago this morning and health care reform is sure to be a major topic of discussion. Just over two weeks ago, AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni said her organization -- the nation's top health insurance lobby -- was "concerned" that the recently-passed House bill will increase health care costs for families and employers across the country and "significantly disrupt" coverage for millions more. This came after Ignagni's months of lip service to Democratic leaders about her support for their broad proposal. The group even commissioned a study to back up its conclusions about the bill, but the findings were largely dismissed for shoddy math and effectively refuted by the Congressional Budget Office's analysis.

Today, eight small business owners affiliated with the Main Street Alliance showed up at the conference with a simple question for Ignagni: Why is AHIP attempting to maintain the status quo? After sending a letter Friday requesting a meeting, the entrepreneurs were not surprisingly rebuffed. Instead, they appeared outside the conference, where they explained, one-by-one, how the exploding cost of health care premiums was making it difficult to operate profitably. Watch some excerpts:

Following the press event, the business owners took to the streets, joining hundreds of their friends and allies -- including numerous labor leaders and reform advocates -- in a protest across the street from the conference.

The crowd heard from Tom Balanoff of the SEIU Illinois State Council (which sponsors this website), Henry Tamarin of UNITE-HERE Local 1, Roberta Lynch of AFSCME Council 31, as well as former Cigna executive Wendell Potter, who characterized the current health care system as "a Wall Street Health Care takeover," (a similar sentiment to the one he expressed before a House subcommittee hearing this June).

This isn't the only reform-related event on the schedule this week in Illinois. Tomorrow, the Campaign for Better Health Care kicks off its annual conference with a debate between Gov. Pat Quinn and Democratic challenger Dan Hynes. Check back Thursday morning for our coverage.

Conyers Seeks To Restore Glass-Steagall

Josh Kalven — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:23:54 -0800

Last week, we noted a rather somber anniversary: Ten years had passed since Congress and the Clinton White House enacted legislation overtturning the Glass-Steagall Act. By dismanting this Depression-era financial regulation (which segregated commercial banks and investment banks), the new law helped paved the way for the wild derivatives trading among too-big-too-fail Wall Street Banks. We further pointed out that various respected financial experts have proposed reinstating some form of Glass-Steagall as a response to the financial crisis.

Now it looks like such a bill doing might surface soon in the U.S. House. From an op-ed published today by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI):

The Glass-Steagall Act had a simple premise: America’s banking sectors and investment houses need to remain separate to prevent banks from gambling on the stock market with our savings. President Franklin Roosevelt knew that banks, like other institutions, could not be trusted to police themselves. After witnessing the widespread failure of financial institutions in the Great Depression. he recognized a firewall was needed between the casino on Wall Street and the private investment engines of Main Street

Unfortunately, we forgot this lesson. Without Glass-Steagall serving as a critical check on the power of banks, the floodgates of speculation were opened. The banks leveraged personal savings accounts to trade in exotic securities and assets. Banks, insurance companies, and investment firms merged at an astounding pace. No longer content to simply finance home mortgages, these new hybrids began creating and selling securities based off of the speculative value of shaky mortgages. The banks took on more risk because risk was profitable. No one paid much attention to what would happen when the speculation bubble burst. [...]

President Barack Obama’s chief outside economic advisor and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, and Nouriel Roubini, the economist who correctly predicted the financial crash, all agree that some form of the Glass-Steagall firewall must be restored if the architecture of our financial system is to be sound. That is why, in the coming weeks, I will introduce a modernized and updated version of the Glass-Steagall Act.

Once Conyers introduces his bill, we'll be watching carefully to see which members of the Illinois congressional delegation sign on.

Durbin "Struggling" To Find 60 Votes On Health Care

Adam Doster — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:13:22 -0800

Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to receive an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on his chamber's health care bill. Sources tell ABC's George Stephanopolous that the package will cost below $900 billion, will extend coverage to most Americans, and will reduce the deficit in both the short- and long-term. That report would clear the way for the leadership to bring the bill to the floor, perhaps by the end of the week.

One reason the legislation will score well is in the inclusion of a public option (with an opt-out clause for states), which the CBO predicts will hold down costs, even if the version eventually approved is weaker than liberals prefer. Last night, progressive senators met with Reid to reiterate the importance of the government-run plan, both as a check against insurance companies and as a testing ground for important insurance and delivery system reforms.

But both Reid and Sen. Dick Durbin aren't sure there's enough support in their chamber yet. With conservative Democrats and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman already hinting they would join Republicans in a filibuster, Reid estimates they are currently three votes short of passing the procedural hump. On MSNBC last night, Durbin said he was "struggling" to whip his members. Watch it, courtesy of TPM:

Perhaps the CBO score will provide Durbin with some key ammunition. Only time will tell.

Health Care Round-Up: A Silent Stimulus, The Greater Good, Hare Blasts GOP's "Alternative"

Adam Doster — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:31:02 -0800

Here's the latest in health care news ...

A Silent Stimulus?

To weather the unrelenting economic recession without slashing services, state governments are going to need more assistance from Washington. Luckily, some help is on the way. And it's coming via an unlikely source.

Today, the Washington Post reports that wedged into the House health care reform bill passed two weekends ago was $23.5 billion directed at states to cover short-term Medicaid costs. Here are the details:

Medicaid relief for states comprised one of the biggest pieces of February's $787 billion federal stimulus package, but that funding will run out next year, halfway through states' next round of spending plans.

Under the Affordable Health Care for America Act, the federal government would continue to pay a higher share of all Medicaid costs -- 66 percent on average, up from 57 percent before the stimulus -- for an additional six months, and erase in one fell swoop a major chunk of states' projected shortfalls for the coming year.

If enacted, this would be a huge boon to state lawmakers clawing to close projected 2011 budget gaps in the coming months. The provision is not included in the Senate version yet, but there is still plenty of time to insert it.

SJ-R: Consider The Greater Good

Some news outlets in Illinois have been very critical of the health care reform packages being pushed through Congress. Just a few weeks ago, the Tribune editorial board all but endorsed the House GOP alternative bill, which would cover 12 times fewer uninsured Americans than the Democrats' proposal while saving less money. But the State Journal-Register has a different view. Pivoting off their recent profile of Verta Wells -- a Springfield resident who died because her lack of insurance prevented her from detecting her early signs of breast cancer -- the editorial board calls on lawmakers to "consider the greater good" and extend access to all Americans:

If terrorists killed 18,000 Americans annually – 15,000 more than died on 9/11 – it would be an outrage that would spur Americans to quickly come up with a solution and take swift action.

But when lack of health care is the cause of so much unnecessary death, too many of us furrow our brow, wag our finger and make assumptions and moral judgments about the uninsured that have little basis in fact. [...]

It is a national character flaw that shocks the conscience. While we treasure our country's unique individualism, when it comes to health care, there needs to be a willingness to consider the greater good. Verta Wells's story reminds us of that.

Read the whole piece here.

Unions Drop New Ads

As the final details of the health reform bills in Washington are ironed out, two major labor unions are hitting the airwaves in Illinois, targeting suburban legislators over their votes on health care. AFSCME is running identical ads supporting two Democratic congressmen -- Reps. Bill Foster and Debbie Halvorson -- who voted for the House measure last week. You can view the Foster spot here:

Meanwhile, the Foundation for Patients' Rights -- a new health reform advocacy group founded by the Service Employees International Union (whose Illinois state council sponsors this website) -- is running an ad against GOP Rep. Mark Kirk for his opposition to the proposal. Watch it:

(H/T Joseph Ryan)

Hare: GOP's Plan "Woefully Inadequate"

Rep. Phil Hare also took some cracks at the Republican's alternative bill during a Springfield press conference last Friday. Calling it "woefully inadequate," the Quad City Democrat blasted his GOP colleagues for failing to craft a proposal that extended coverage to all Americans. Watch it:

AHIP Rally Tomorrow

Tomorrow, don't forget to stop by the Renaissance Hotel in Chicago where eight small businesses owners from across the country will meet outside the annual conference of America's Health Insurance Plans -- the nation's top health insurance lobby -- to deliver a letter demanding to speak with CEO Karen Ignagni about her organization's position on health care reform. The action begins at 12 pm. Check out the specifics at their website.

IDES: Unemployment Benefit Extension Certification Starts Next Week

Adam Doster — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:15:20 -0800

Ten days ago today, President Obama signed into law a federal unemployment benefits extension granting jobless benefits to unemployed Americans set to exhaust their allotted insurance by December 31, 2009. When can workers in Illinois who qualify expect their checks to arrive? We put in a call to Greg Rivara, a spokesperson at the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) late last week. He reports back that the certification of claims will begin the week of Thanksgiving. Once a claimant is deemed eligible, retroactive checks for the weeks of November 9 and November 16 will be mailed. Thanksgiving, Rivara reminds us, is a banking holiday, so no business will be conducted that Thursday.

There is also the issue of the end-of-the-year filing deadline. The bill signed by Obama earlier this month, H.R. 3548, grants an additional six weeks of unemployment aid to jobless workers who will have exhausted their benefits by the end of 2009 and live in a state with an unemployment rate at or above 8.5 percent. But because the new law treats the 20-week extension as two separate extensions (one of 14 weeks and one of six weeks) with participants required to exhaust the first 14 weeks before applying for the next six, the December 31 application deadline prevents anyone from collecting the full allotment. (The end of the year is seven weeks away, so no one will have exhausted their initial 14 weeks by then.)

Currently, no fix has been introduced. But some members of Congress are open to the possibility of another broad unemployment extension that could address the deadline glitch and provide additional help to those who lose their insurance after the New Year. And it might be housed in the "jobs bill" Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) talked up last week, although specifics about the scope of the plan were not announced. Keep an eye out on that front.

The GOP Loses It Over Thomson/Gitmo Plan

Adam Doster — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:49:49 -0800

Illinois' prison system is finally making major headlines. But not for the reasons we had hoped.

Over the weekend, the White House announced that the near-empty Thomson Correctional Center in rural northwest Illinois has emerged as a potential candidate to house terrorism suspects from the Guantanamo Bay military prison. Federal officials, at the behest of the White House, are scheduled to inspect the facility today. Gov. Pat Quinn and Sen. Dick Durbin will hold a series of press conferences outlining the potential plan, which they argue would spur the local economy. If approved, the federal government would purchase the 1,600-cell, maximum-security prison and fill it with regular inmates. They would then set aside a section for the less than 100 Gitmo detainees as a way to help close the controversial prison in Cuba.

Yesterday, like clockwork, GOP lawmakers pounced on the issue, unleashing a barrage of attacks on Quinn and the White House for even considering such a move.

In a letter signed by the seven-member GOP congressional delegation, Rep. Mark Kirk warned that "our state and the Chicago Metropolitan Area will become ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization." Not to be outdone, Rep. Peter Roskam suggested that 'terrorists have no place on American soil." Rep. Judy Biggert added a similar thought, suggesting that "these detainees pose a unique threat to America's security" and they should be "kept away from our shores, and far from America’s heartland." Later this morning, Kirk, Roskam, Biggert and Rep. Don Manzullo will air their grievances at a joint press conference. And they've already circulated a petition calling on President Obama to "stop Al Qaeda terrorists from coming to Illinois." Even two Republican gubernatorial candidates, Dan Proft and Andy McKenna, got in on the action, the former releasing a statement that calls the plan "a terrible idea that threatens the safety of Illinois residents" and the latter telling the press he opposed "efforts to move Gitmo detainees to our neighborhoods."

This is a serious issue that deserves serious scrutiny. For example, AFSCME Council 31, which represents Illinois prison guards, is angry that the state would sell off Thomson instead of using it to ease overcrowding at the state's maximum security prisons. But before pols get all hysterical, it's important to understand what exactly is being proposed.

Here are a few facts. (Capitol Fax has a helpful compendium of links that offer some context.)

First, Roskam is just flat-out wrong when he said that terrorists "have no place on American soil." In fact, many are currently residing in U.S. prisons. Federal facilities currently house 216 international terrorists and 139 domestic terrorists. Thirty-five of those inmates are housed in Illinois. U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Traci L. Billingsley says that none of them have ever escaped. And Durbin -- one of only six senators to vote to fund the closure of the Guantanamo detention facility -- made a salient point on the Senate floor in May: Those who think our prisons can't handle these detainees "ought to have a little more respect for the men and women who are corrections officers."

It's also very important to remember that these detainees would be isolated from the general population. Other high-security prisoners would have no contact with these terrorists. No words would be exchanged and no ideologies discussed. They will be monitored very closely. Perhaps that's one reason why locals aren't too nervous about accepting the transfers.

Kirk will be sure to flaunt his military expertise at the press conference today, warning that he truly understands that threats posed by the Thomson proposal. But his inflated rhetoric on this issue proves he doesn't care about subtlety or thoughtful policy when a political point can be gained.

"It's hard not to wonder if these guys are even listening to themselves," writes Steve Benen. "Locking up terrorists is bad for security? Federal prisons are 'ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots'? It's like listening to children."