To State Representatives:

I’m writing to seek your support for HB 5000h, House amendment #1 which will ensure safeguards for Illinois’ disabled children and adults, working poor and undocumented residents with a more thoughtful implementation of the Governor’s recent budget proposals.

If the Governor’s recent budget proposals are implemented as they now stand, they will have a devastating effect on some of Illinois’ neediest residents by causing the loss of services for:

·         1 out of every 3 mental health consumers caused by substandard rates

·         1 in every 4 mental health consumers due to delay in payments by the state

The Governor’s recommendation for converting the community mental health system from the current grant arrangement to a fee for service (FFS) and competitively bid request for proposal (RFP) model is not necessarily a bad one; however, the speed with which the Governor wants it implemented is potentially devastating.  Here are some concerns with the budget proposals:
 

• It appears that the proposed FFS system will use current Medicaid funding levels, which are inadequate.
• The proposal does not specify what services will be reimbursable
• The proposal is being created without consumer input and with little effort to accommodate provider concerns.
• Department of Human Services (DHS) has already announced that some important services will not be funded, including mental health services in nursing homes, claiming that nursing homes are already required to provide these services. However, no effort is being made by DHS to ensure that persons with mental illnesses are not admitted to nursing homes unless the services are in place.
• DHS has announced that it will no longer place all of the money from Medicaid in the Mental Health Fund.  That fund will be capped and the money will be treated as General Revenue Funds (GRF) to be spent on unrelated budget matters.  In other words, matching Federal Dollars generated to the state by Medicaid payments for mental health services will go to other services not related to mental health issues.
• While the state will lend community providers two months of their current grant, FFS billing is typically 90 days behind (and often much more) and this advance must be repaid within 2 yrs.  Many providers cannot afford to wait 90 days for their funds.
• Providers will no longer serve people who do not fit into the Medicaid model.
• There is no provision to ensure that service capacity is maintained for things like emergency services, which cannot be billed for under Medicaid.
• It is estimated that these proposals will reduce mental health services by 25% and an estimated 38,000 to 51,000 (which includes 10,000 to 12,000 seriously, emotionally disturbed children) currently served mentally ill clients will not be served.

If adopted, these policies will perform the greatest disservice to disabled children and adults, their guardians and families since the state’s infamous de-institutionalization movement.

I strongly urge you to support HB 5000h.

Sincerely yours,