Breen blames ‘petty’ partisanship for move to restrict Medicaid managed care

Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard) described Monday’s passage of Senate Bill 1446 as a hypocritical move by Democrats to make it harder for Gov. Bruce Rauner to use managed care systems for some Medicaid recipients. “All of the sudden, it becomes something that well, it needs to be stopped, because it’s Gov. Rauner,” Breen said, according to a video of the SB1446 debate posted by the Illinois Republican Party. “It makes no sense for it to be fine under Gov. Quinn or Gov. Blagojevich, and all of a sudden it’s no good because it’s Gov. Rauner. This is petty politics, and it has the potential, not merely to cost our state more money, but to harm people’s health and their lives.” Breen noted that the purchase of care options emerged in 1999 and allowed Quinn to move 50 percent of Medicaid recipients to managed care. According to Breen, the state was working to move 80 percent or more of its recipients to managed care, but those efforts are now being blocked because of opposition to Gov. Rauner. “The governor’s actually trying to fix the Medicaid system,” Breen said. “He wants to make things less expensive and get people better care. At some point this has to end. You’ve got to let the man do the job that the people of this state elected him to do, which he’s been ready and willing and doing.”