State Medicaid Cuts – Illinois

Illinois Medicaid cuts will hit a system already in crisis, By Kristen McQueary, February 17, 2012, New York Times: “When Gov. Pat Quinn announces Medicaid cuts from a Springfield podium next week, Dr. Jason Grinter will be in the operating room of a Chicago hospital, treating Medicaid patients. Dr. Grinter is a dentist whose appointment book includes hundreds of Medicaid clients, many of whom have no other access to dental care. He treats children, the elderly and the disabled – often in school gymnasiums or nursing home cafeterias as part of a mobile dentistry outreach. Dental services are among the benefits lawmakers are considering cutting as they look for ways to reduce the cost of the state’s health care system for the poor. Dr. Grinter says that is short-sighted. ‘When you go without dental care, you get infections,’ he said. ‘You go to the emergency room – that’s big bucks. The state will be spending twice as much if it gets rid of the dental program.’ From the enrollment of patients through treatment and payment, the Medicaid program in Illinois has been plagued by fraud, inefficiency, unsustainable costs and a paralyzing political climate with often-competing doctor, hospital and health care lobbies, according to lawmakers and health-care organizations who work within the system…”