Lack of “cooperation” with immigration advocates, administrative overreach on concerns
By Andrew AdamsCapitol News Illinois[email protected]
Members of the state’s rulemaking oversight committee expressed concern on Tuesday that Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration has not solicited enough public input on plans to limit access to medical programs like Medicaid for noncitizens.
The controversy focuses on the Immigrant Adult Medical Benefits and Immigrant Elderly Medical Benefits programs that provide medical benefits to low-income noncitizens who are eligible for Medicaid benefits if they do not have citizenship.
During budget negotiations in May, lawmakers made the following comments to the Pritzker government: authority It has set out to limit program spending through emergency rulemaking, a power his administration exercised in late June.
These emergency regulations freeze enrollment in HBIA for noncitizens aged 42 to 64 and set limits on enrollees in HBIS, which provides benefits to noncitizens aged 65 and over. The change will also reduce reimbursement rates for two large public hospitals, introduce copays and co-insurance for some services, and move some subscribers to state Medicaid-managed care programs to cut costs.
The Joint Committee on Administrative Regulations heard Tuesday from representatives of the state Department of Health and Family Services defending the rule.
IDHFS officials said the rule was designed to limit the cost of the program and without change it would be hundreds of millions of dollars underfunded.
“Without changes, we project a debt to the program of about $1.2 billion,” IDHFS chief of staff Ben Winnick said at JCAR’s Tuesday meeting in Chicago.
He noted that the General Assembly allocated $550 million while giving the government powers to limit costs.
The Pritzker administration proposed both “emergency” and “permanent” administrative rule changes. Emergency rules are usually valid for 150 days, but laws that give governments the power to limit program enrollment also allow you to reapply for emergency rules after they have expired. This means that unless JCAR votes by a three-fifths majority to suspend the rule, the rule will remain in place for at least the next two years, as long as the ministry wishes.
The JCAR (6 Democrats, 6 Republicans, responsible for overseeing policy-making within the state executive branch) took no action on either emergency or permanent rules on Tuesday, but the commission could take action at a future meeting.
Both Democrats and Republicans shared concerns with IDHFS officials, who focused primarily on the process by which rules are developed.
Senator Christina Castro, an Elgin Democrat and member of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus, said the department failed to consult with stakeholders in the immigration advocacy community when formulating the rule.
“You submitted both the Emergency and Permanent Rules right away. There apparently has been no discussion with supporters about either,” Castro told IDHFS officials.
Rep. Eva Dina Delgado of the Chicago Democratic Party also said she wanted “immediate action” to engage with stakeholders and advocacy groups before moving forward with the process of implementing permanent rules proposed by the department. She specifically criticized the ministry’s plan to give 14 days’ notice before freezing registrations in HBIS.
“I want people to engage with those who are affected, because I don’t know if it’s possible,” Delgado said. “If you change someone’s health care every two weeks and expect that person to follow it, even if that person is perfectly fluent in the language, I think you’re just asking for trouble.”
Republican Rep. Stephen Reich (R-Woodstock) said the rule represented a “waiver” of the General Assembly’s responsibilities and should have been considered in law rather than administrative policy.
“This is another example of a governor thinking he can legislate on his own,” Reich said. “First we did it with 47 disaster declarations and now we do it with emergency declarations.”
Senator Bill Cunningham, a Chicago Democrat and JCAR co-chair, said the committee was frustrated by the lack of stakeholder engagement from multiple government agencies. JCAR also discussed controversial issues Changes in emission regulations On Tuesday, he opposed the hasty implementation process of two state government agencies, targeting heavy industry.
In an interview after the hearing, he said, “I think I heard complaints from committee members throughout the meeting about the lack of engagement of government agencies and various stakeholders, and that was the case across the board.”
Mr Cunningham said the committee is “likely” to discuss medical regulations again next month.
“We expect them to act in good faith to work more closely with stakeholder groups,” Cunningham said.
Capitol News Illinois is a non-profit, non-partisan news service that covers state government. Distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast media throughout the state. The fund is funded primarily by the Illinois Publishing Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, with substantial contributions from the Illinois Broadcasting Corporation and the Southern Illinois Editorial Society.
