Governor Bruce Rauner will deliver his state of the state address Wednesday, and if his preview speeches are any indication, the governor will continue to blame part of Illinois' budget problems on the salaries and benefits of state workers.
But two years from now, Rauner will face the biggest state payment it'll ever have to make... Medicaid, the healthcare program for the poor, elderly and disabled. The federal government will stop paying for all of Illinois' new enrollees in Medicaid expansion in 2017, making the largest part of Illinois' budget even larger.
Rauner hasn't been specific on how he plans to change Medicaid to prepare for that day, the most he's said is that the program is fraught with "waste, fraud and abuse."
"We're going to deal with that first and foremost and then we'll be developing other policies to help improve Medicaid and make sure it's a good program that's providing good services in the future."
Illinois has budget $20-billion dollars for Medicaid this year. Rauner said on the campaign trail that he would have opposed expanding Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act, but says he wouldn't roll it back now.