While political gridlock paralyzes Washington, a silent crisis is unfolding in our communities. The government shutdown is not just political theater; it’s a direct assault on the mental health of our neighbors, compounding the threat of expiring Medicaid enhanced premium tax credits (EPTCs).
As future physicians training on the West Side, we are not just observing this crisis; we are witnessing its casualties. In conversations with over 400 Chicago West Side residents, part of Rush University’s Community Health Needs Assessment, we heard a clear message: Access to preventive care and mental health services is a barrier between life and death. One participant stated, “I am on Medicaid, and I can’t … (access) day programs,” in reference to limitations already present in a system that is now at risk of being completely dismantled. In a community where people feel they have to travel “way out of the area” to get care, removing financial assistance will create an insurmountable barrier.
In Chicago, nonprofits have filled a critical gap in service delivery since the city shuttered six of its 12 government-funded mental health clinics in 2012. The current government shutdown is now severing the last threads of support, cutting federal funding to these nonprofit lifelines. We hear the desperation from residents, such as one person who said, “A lot of people … want to do something, but they just don’t got the help for it. (They) don’t know where to go or don’t even have an idea where to start.”
Our communities are being abandoned. The Kaiser Family Foundation predicts that without EPTCs, insurance premium payments could double, pushing therapy and preventive care out of reach for millions.
As we witness firsthand the human cost of these policy failures, we call on our leaders to extend enhanced premium tax credits, end this shutdown and work toward a more equitable health system that doesn’t hold mental health and preventive care hostage in annual budget negotiations.
This is a moral and medical emergency that demands immediate action.
— Grace Riley, Chrissie Fraser and Houssam Joudi, second-year medical students, Rush Medical College
Lower energy costs
We’ve heard it loud and clear: Sky-high energy prices are crushing residents across the state. That’s why it’s critical the Illinois General Assembly passes the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability (CRGA) Act, the only legislative solution on the table this veto session that will effectively lower energy costs for consumers.
The Sept. 26 editorial (“After a summer of sky-high ComEd bills, Springfield must act on long-term relief this fall”) astutely summarizes the cost crisis. Price spikes are occurring because Illinois does not have enough power supply to meet historic levels of demand. Without building new energy to meet demand, energy costs will continue to increase year after year.
The CRGA Act has been carefully designed to address this problem. The legislation would save Illinois families and businesses $34 billion on their power bills by building new energy capacity and giving Illinois the tools to better respond to future energy demands.
Taking action now will also protect Illinois from the devastating consequences of the Donald Trump administration’s harmful policies. The Illinois Environmental Council found the recent federal budget bill will increase household energy bills by as much as $400 per year (up to $9.5 billion by 2035), eliminate over 50,000 clean energy and manufacturing jobs, and cost the state $16.8 billion in economic development. The president also recently canceled $583 million in planned Illinois energy projects, dealing another blow to our economy and future energy supply.
Our communities can’t afford to pay more or lose these economic opportunities. Currently, more than 1 in 5 Illinois adults are unable to pay their power bills, and more than 1 in 3 adults are having difficulty paying for standard household expenses, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey.
These issues will grow more dire the longer we fail to address Illinois’ energy crisis. Costs will continue to rise, families will struggle even more to afford basic expenses, thousands of Illinoisans will lose their jobs and billions of dollars in economic impact will evaporate from our communities.
It’s simply not an option to leave CRGA on the table this veto session.
As the General Assembly, we have a choice. We can pass CRGA now during the fall veto session to lower energy bills for Illinois and reap the economic benefits. Or, we can do nothing and watch as our families, businesses and workforce suffer.
The cost of inaction is too high.
— State Rep. Mary Beth Canty, D-Arlington Heights
Pension enhancements
On Oct. 10, the Tribune published an op-ed by a broad coalition of civic leaders cautioning lawmakers against passing “fiscally catastrophic” pension enhancements (“State lawmakers should reject massive pension benefit sweetener”). As local government leaders, we write to echo that message. As the rising costs of housing, utilities, insurance and other essentials continue to strain household budgets, Illinois residents cannot afford higher property taxes to support enhancing municipal pensions. Asking taxpayers to shoulder the costs of sweetening already-generous retirement benefits when our residents are struggling to pay their bills is not only unfair but also unconscionable.
Local governments, left to determine the fiscal impact on their own, have analyzed the proposed legislation and found that benefit enhancements would permanently and significantly increase taxpayer costs. Municipal actuarial studies show that local taxpayers could face the equivalent of a 10% increase in property taxes or more to fund the police and fire pension benefit increases proposed in SB1937.
Unfortunately, many local pension funds are still recovering from the cost of legacy benefits and the Great Recession, meaning required taxpayer contributions are already increasing to address current liabilities. Benefit increases will put these communities even deeper in the hole, requiring either tax increases or service cuts to meet statutory obligations. Additionally, the impact of the proposed enhancements to the largest local government pension fund in Illinois, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, remains unknown.
Municipal pensions in Illinois are not broken and do not “need a fix,” especially considering that existing benefits for our employees far exceed the retirement benefits available to many of our residents. Municipalities work hard to support our employees with competitive salaries and benefits, and Illinois municipal pensions already meet federal “Safe Harbor” requirements that ensure pension benefits are equal to or greater than Social Security benefits.
Proposals such as SB1937 that roll back reforms to municipal pensions will needlessly and permanently increase the tax burden on Illinois residents. As part of the Pension Fairness for Illinois Communities Coalition and the Investing in Communities Coalition, we echo the call from civic leaders for Illinois lawmakers to protect taxpayers and the sustainability of local pension systems by rejecting municipal benefit enhancements.
— David Pileski, president, DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference, and Donna Johnson, president, Northwest Municipal Conference
Vallas’ budget advice
Regarding the op-ed “A pathway out of Chicago’s perennial budget crisis” (Oct. 21): Former mayoral candidate Paul Vallas writes almost exactly the same opinion content repeatedly, most recently on Sept. 22 (“Chicago’s budget crisis is a spending problem, not a revenue problem”). On each occasion, he confirms his lack of familiarity with the city he sought to lead, its actual budgetary needs and clear expression. The city’s budget crises are frequent, not “perennial.”
On each occasion, Vallas is factually and arithmetically incorrect to restate that the problem is spending, not revenue. As a student of cities, I challenge Vallas to look at Chicago without his ideological lens. It is unmistakably a city in need.
Its police and fire and other safety forces are understaffed and inadequate. No area has adequate regular patrolling, the only tried-and-true method of ensuring public safety. The roster of crimes is long. We have little traffic patrolling. And bicycle and scooter riders violate traffic and pedestrian laws at will.
Many streets and sidewalks are broken, and many street and traffic signs are missing and not replaced.
Chicago needs increased revenue. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s “mishmash,” as two Tribune reporters called it, simply doesn’t add up. Vallas’ prescriptions, which he is unable to add up, also fail. His listing is no more than a set of undefined buzz words.
Chicago needs a renewed and renewable tax base. The history of cities, including Chicago’s, confirms that equitable — that is, truly progressive, not left-wing — property taxes, with regular checking, is the tried-and-proved method.
— Harvey J. Graff, Chicago
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