By Steve Rhodes
“The 2.7 percent Medicaid rate cuts that Illinois nursing homes received for the current fiscal year included language setting minimum staffing levels that pleased nursing-home owners and infuriated advocates for residents,” GateHouse News Service reports.
“A spokeswoman for the nursing-home industry, Pat Comstock, said the legislation, crafted without recommendations from the advocates won’t chip away at the state’s landmark 2010 nursing-home reform law.
“But others said residents of long-term care facilities could suffer as a result of Senate Bill 2840, which Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law, because the staffing levels in the law are inadequate and confusing to enforce.
“It’s just sad,” said Wendy Meltzer, director of Chicago-based Illinois Citizens for Better Care. “People are going to be neglected.”
*
“The reform law was sparked by a series of articles in the Chicago Tribune about inadequate staffing levels in Illinois nursing homes and dangerous conditions connected with housing psychiatric patients alongside elderly and disabled patients.”
*
“When Illinois Cares Rx fell victim to massive state Medicaid program cuts this summer, senior citizens and disabled adults had some tough decisions to make,” GateHouse also reports.
“They were now on the hook for Medicare premium and prescription drug costs that before had been covered by the supplemental program. Many of them scrambled to meet with local health insurance counselors for advice on what to do.
“Some qualified for the aptly named ‘Extra Help’ federal Medicare assistance program or are paying more for higher-deductible Medicare benefits that cover more of their costs. Others struggled, their reduced incomes making them candidates for full Medicaid coverage they previously had shunned or for food pantry referrals.
“I would say July 1, Illinois stopped caring,” said Peoria pharmacist Mike Minesinger, rattling off anecdote after anecdote of prescription-drug horror stories he’s heard since Illinois Cares Rx ended July 1.
Madigan’s Machinations I
Every Democrat who votes to retain Michael Madigan as Speaker is endorsing, enabling and conspiring in his conduct. Simple as that.
Madigan’s Machinations II
“The Chicago Sun-Times’ Carol Marin reported recently that House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle were neutral in the Smith race,” Rich Miller notes. “Madigan’s spokesman told me that his boss is neutral because two Democrats are running against each other.”
And instead of pressing him on the ridiculousness of that statement, I just wrote it down and now I’m posting it!
*
And to stay consistent, Madigan will never again back one Democrat over another in a primary.
Rahmney World
Oh, this is rich.
Nobody in America has bashed teachers quite like Rahm Emanuel has. Where were you then, Mr. President?
*
See also: How A Political Poem Was Bullied Out Of This Chicago School Teacher.
The Real Cal’s Bombers
“A week-and-a-half ago, two young men plotted a terrorist attack outside a bar in Chicago – and it turns out the plot was mostly put out together by the FBI. The two men were reportedly encouraged for months and months by undercover agents, who eventually supplied them with a fake bomb. The 17-year-old is now facing life in prison for pushing the trigger of the fake bomb. Trevor Aaronson, the author of Terror Factory, joins us for the broader implications to the story.”
–
Hole In One
C’mon, this is pretty great.
Indiana Folly
Whaddya think this is, Illinois?
Inspector General To City
Hands Off!
Go Away, Kerry Wood
Slouching Toward History in The Cub Factor.
Sweet Homes
Alabama vs. Chicago.
Chicago’s Late Great Chevrolet Sign
Powered by monkeys.
–
The Beachwood Tip Line: Could care less.
Posted on September 25, 2012