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January 9, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For
more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook
County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or by email at
iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com.
Stroger Introduces Ordinance to Tackle Health Care Funding Crisis
New
joint initiative by state and county officials, and health care
professionals designed to provide greater financial assistance for
institutions that serve the poor and uninsured throughout state of
Illinois.
CHICAGO,
January 9, 2008 – Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger and
members of the Cook County Board introduced an ordinance today designed
to provide additional funding for hospitals that treat the poor and
uninsured. Members of the Board in support of this proposal are Finance
Committee Chairman John P. Daley (D-11th), Commissioner William M.
Beavers (D-4th), Commissioner Jerry Butler (D-3rd), Commissioner Gregg
Goslin (R-14th), Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno (D-7th), Commissioner
Joan Patricia Murphy (D-6th) and Commissioner Deborah Sims (D-5th).
“This new measure will provide important financial resources for
some of our region’s most financially embattled hospitals –
the vital health care institutions that provide the majority of the
state’s Medicaid-funding services,” said President Stroger.
“I urge all County Commissioners to support this important
initiative that will allow our safety net hospitals to continue to
operate, and I urge legislators across the state to approve a hospital
assessment program that provides funding for the Cook County Bureau of
Health Services.”
The plan is modeled after the current statewide hospital assessment
program set to expire in late June. The proposal is expected to
generate desperately needed revenue for hospitals both in Cook County
and across the State of Illinois by leveraging assessment revenues to
acquire hundreds of millions of dollars in federal matching funds which
will be distributed to hospitals throughout the state of Illinois.
President Stroger’s initiative has won support from SEIU –
the Service Employees International Union – and a broad
consortium of area health care institutions and elected officials,
including the Chairman of the Illinois State Senate Appropriations II
Committee, Senator Jeffrey Schoenberg (D-Evanston).
Three years ago the state of Illinois reauthorized the statewide
hospital assessment program to ensure in part that hospitals that serve
a disproportionate share of low-income individuals and families are
able to continue to provide quality health care. But none of those
dollars generated from this program were made available to Stroger,
Provident and Oak Forest Hospitals or the County’s Ambulatory
Clinic Network, which combined provide millions of dollars each year in
critical health care services to thousands of patients who lack the
financial means to obtain heath care anywhere else.
The proposal is pending before the Health and Hospitals Committee for its consideration.
For
more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook
County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or
iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com.
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