Muddled Vision for Champaign County Nursing Home

Today's News-Gazette article about the Champaign County Nursing Home really gets to the crux of the problem behind this debacle of local government. I confess I haven't been paying attention, but it appears that the place we find ourselves in today is the result of a lack of clear goals for this facility.

County homes have historically been a place where folks without means (either because of age, infirmity or mental illness) were allowed to live. They were clearly charitable institutions, funded largely by taxpayer subsidy. There was no discussion about breaking even, or making a profit; the budget discussion was about how to pay the bills.

Here in Champaign County (home of the dysfunctional 27-member County Board), there appear to be competing visions regarding the County's $27 million investment. [Not surprising, given that the biggest dream that some of the members have is to get elected to the worst-in-the-nation Illinois General Assembly, or worse, to be mayor of Urbana. ]

Some apparently expect the home to run on at least a break-even basis. But if that is the case, why is government involved at all? Is there a lack of private nursing home companies out there? Not likely. Why in the world would an impotent county government imagine that it is in a better position than a professional private company to run this operation? If the goal is to minimize expense to taxpayers, sell the damn thing to a professional operator and cut your losses.

It is not a little ironic that the idea of booting impoverished Medicaid recipients is being floated. If the goal of the facility is to provide refuge to those who would otherwise be out in the cold, this step would be absolutely contraindicated.

So what's it going to be, you dummies? A decision to provide heavily-subsidized care, or to make the facility a self-sufficient enterprise? The choices could not be more stark, but resolution will require courage and clear-thinking. I, for one, am not holding my breath.