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Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Oh, it’s an “historic” agreement, make no mistake. Be interesting to read what results from a reporter asking the administration how much more additional cost this will add to Illinois’ already unaffordable Medicaid program. The Home Services Program was intended to decrease Medicaid costs by allowing public-aid eligible beneficiaries, who are at “imminent risk of nursing home placement,” to remain in their homes with help from “personal assistants” at less cost to taxpayers than Medicaid-funded institutionalization. Of course, given the fact that this is Illinois, “at imminent risk of nursing home placement” turned into thousands of people who are on… Read more »