Friday, November 30, 2007

Stick ‘Em Up, Peter, Paul Needs Paid

Odd that nothing’s coming out of the IL state prison budget, apparently, you know, where those not getting the treatment will end up.

Substance-abuse treatment centers are suffering through the worst backlog of state payments in at least eight years while Gov. Rod Blagojevich diverts $400 million from state coffers — not to pay the centers, but to expand health-care coverage for poor adults and middle-income families.

That situation frustrates Stephen Knox, chief executive of Springfield’s not-for-profit Triangle Center, which hasn’t received a substantial payment from the state since mid-August. “The governor is on the road, trying to expand health-care programs in Illinois,” Knox said Thursday. “I would like to remind him that alcohol and drug care is health care. The debt needs to be paid down before you expand.”

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