The head of Southern Illinois Healthcare says the American people can help improve our healthcare system and reduce the Medicaid burden.
Governor Pat Quinn recently outlined his plan for rescuing the Medicaid system in Illinois and filling a $2.7 billion hole. It includes reducing services for the poor, cutting payments to health care providers and raising the cigarette tax by $1 a pack. SIH CEO Rex Budde says the governor's proposal to fill the Medicaid could cost SIH $3 to $4- million dollars in reduced reimbursements. Budde says the solution needs to go beyond Medicaid. His solution to the problem is for Americans to take on more personal responsibility and change their lifestyle habits when it comes to smoking, drinking, eating and a lack of exercise. Budde says one-third of adults in the U.S. are now considered obese. Budde says no healthcare system or government budget in the world that can support that.
Budde says the American healthcare system needs to switch its focus to preventative care. But he says the problem will remain in the short term about how to deal with those acute conditions acquired over the years from our unhealthy lifestyles. Budde says he will take 33-hundred petition signatures to Springfield Wednesday as part of the Illinois Hospital Association's Advocacy Day to emphasize how upset southern Illinoisans are about the governor's Medicaid proposal.