Topinka lays out her Medicaid-revamp plan - Blagojevich criticizes idea as bad for poor

Topinka lays out her Medicaid-revamp plan - Blagojevich criticizes idea as bad for poor
ILLINOIS STATE FAIR
By Rick Pearson
Copyright by The Chicago Tribune
Published August 18, 2006

SPRINGFIELD -- Republican governor candidate Judy Baar Topinka turned the GOP's annual day at the Illinois State Fair into a debate over health care Thursday as she proposed a cost-saving restructuring of Medicaid that her opponent said would hurt the poor.

Topinka, under pressure to roll out details of her fiscal vision for the state in challenging Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, unveiled a plan to achieve $3.7 billion in savings through cuts and changes to the state budget over four years. The largest chunk, $2.9 billion, would come from retooling eligibility, service delivery and funding within Medicaid, the state and federally funded health-care program for the poor that serves more than 2 million people.

"Illinois has an enormous budget problem. Enormous," said Topinka, the current state treasurer. "Now I did not create this problem, but as governor I will fix it because that's what leaders do. Now I'm not going to tell you it's going to be easy, but it has to be fixed and we start now."

Topinka aides said current Medicaid recipients would retain coverage but, in the future, those who did not meet the new income and asset requirements would no longer be eligible for the program. Blagojevich, however, quickly contended it would mean an end to his signature re-election campaign program, the All Kids children's health-insurance program.

"It is a real shame that Treasurer Topinka's budget plan relies on massive cuts to health care, takes health care away from kids, and will lead to seniors being kicked out of nursing homes," Blagojevich said in a statement. "This is a devastating proposal that would undermine all health care in Illinois and take Illinois in the totally wrong direction."

Topinka's fiscal proposals were the centerpiece of a day at the fairgrounds that was largely free of the controversies that had marred previous Republican Days. Reflecting the party's out-of-power status, the crowd at the event paled to those who attended the Democrats' fair event the day before.

But GOP leaders, including former Gov. Jim Edgar, and members of the Republican statewide ticket chided the Blagojevich campaign for paying to bus supporters to their Democratic event and tried to exploit rifts among the state's ruling party leaders. Topinka, meanwhile, delivered to the crowd a blunt critique of Blagojevich's leadership.

"We are at the bottom of the bucket in just about everything in this state, courtesy of a lackluster governor who doesn't give a rat's behind that he is the governor. ... So govern," Topinka said, also noting her mother always told her "a fish rots from its head."

Rep. Tom Cross of Oswego, the House Republican leader, questioned Blagojevich's priorities in recently awarding $1 million--on top of a previous $3 million--to a ballpark in Downstate Marion to house a baseball team owned by a prominent campaign donor.

In announcing the $1 million donation earlier this month, Blagojevich said it was a spur-of-the-moment decision that would make his budget director, John Filan, unhappy. But Filan acknowledged Thursday that the $1 million was not a surprise. "We talked about that a number of times," Filan said.

Earlier on Thursday, Topinka said quick action was needed to control the growth of Medicaid spending. Her proposal to put income limits on enrollment in All Kids and to institute an asset test to cap Medicaid eligibility would generate $80 million in savings over four years, her campaign said.

Her proposal also would seek a federal block grant for funding Medicaid, which, if approved by the federal government, would provide more flexibility in the way the state provides medical services. Her proposal also would require health-care services to the poor be delivered through a managed-care plan.

Blagojevich aides contended that the state is already shifting Medicaid clients to a more cost-efficient form of managed care long sought by Republicans.

Other portions of Topinka's plan call for $400 million in savings over four years through making what she called cuts in "clout"--jobs and contracts awarded to Blagojevich friends and campaign contributors. But Blagojevich campaign aides said Topinka was mistakenly counting new jobs in an administration that had heavily cut jobs.

Topinka said the state could achieve another $400 million in savings over four years by getting rid of "pork" projects for lawmakers--an estimate she called conservative. She also promised to end the process of including large unspecified lump sums of money in the state budget that are later used by the governor to dole out public works projects and grants to legislators.

"I believe taxpayers' money should be spent wisely. If not wisely, then not at all," Topinka said.

Filan, Blagojevich's budget director, accused Topinka of trying to dismantle the administration's heavily promoted health-care initiatives and expansions, which have been a leading re-election campaign theme by the incumbent.

"She calls it `common sense,'" Filan said. "I call it nonsense."

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