Testimony to the Cook County Transition Team Health and Hospitals Committee

Submitted by John Peller, Director of State Affairs

The Bureau of Health Services plays an essential role in providing care to people with HIV/AIDS. Every year, the Bureau cares for almost half of the 30,000 people with HIV/AIDS in Cook County. The Bureau is the largest HIV/AIDS care provider in the State of Illinois, and for 25 years, has played a central role in providing quality care to people with HIV/AIDS—a legacy that must be maintained and protected for uninsured, vulnerable, low-income people with HIV.

In Chicago alone, about 1,000 people test positive for HIV every year. Federal grants for care for people with HIV, such as the Ryan White Care Act, are not growing fast enough to keep up with the demand; many people with HIV are ineligible for Medicare or Medicaid because they are not disabled. They represent some of the uninsured individuals for whom the County must provide medical care.

The AIDS Foundation of Chicago strongly supports the transition team’s recommendations, and in particular, the recommendation that third party billing be expanded. In addition, we urge that the County hire benefits counselors to ensure that patients are enrolled in all the services and programs that they are eligible for, know how to access them, and are in fact accessing them. County services and programs must be protected for people with no other ability to access care.

We are concerned that there is nothing in the transition plan about the Cook County Department of Public Health. The agency, although a small part of the Bureau, performs critical public health functions for the suburbs that must be maintained,

including HIV/AIDS surveillance, prevention, and technical assistance to prevention service providers. The Department’s capacity to engage in day-to-day business must be maintained, or we will pay the price down the road when individuals with illness that could have been prevented show up at the doorstep of Stroger hospital. There are broad unmet needs in the suburbs for HIV and other disease prevention programs.
The AIDS Foundation of Chicago is concerned about the 10% across-the-board budget cuts that have been mentioned in the media for fiscal year 2007. We urge the County to reduce the cut for agencies such as the Bureau that provide essential healthcare services.

In addition, the AIDS Foundation urges the Transition Team to closely examine the recommendations of the Northwestern report, and in particular the relationship between the Bureau and County Board. Strategic restructuring of the reporting relationship could strengthen the Bureau’s finances, improve quality of care, and allow the Bureau to make needed changes more quickly.
The AIDS Foundation of Chicago stands ready to assist the transition team in any possible. Thank you for your hard work on behalf of Cook County’s most vulnerable patients.