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Talks over boosting Illinois Medicaid payments fail
Source: Reuters
HEALTH NEWS | Tue Jun 27, 2017 | 10:36am EDT
Talks over boosting Illinois Medicaid payments fail
Negotiations over increasing Illinois' payments to Medicaid providers have failed, opening the door for a U.S. judge to force the cash-strapped state to pay as much as $1 billion a month to ensure medical care continues for the program's three million recipients, according to a court filing on Monday.
The move would cause a huge problem for the state, which has accumulated a $15 billion bill backlog due to a budget stalemate between its Republican governor and Democrats who control the legislature. It could force Illinois to stop making full payments on other state-mandated or court-ordered spending such as pensions and payroll.
The filing in U.S. District Court by attorneys representing Medicaid recipients asked Judge Joan Lefkow to order the state to pay $500 million a month for four months to start reducing a $3.1 billion pile of unpaid bills owed to managed care organizations that turn pay doctors and others.
As long as Illinois remains without an enacted budget, the proposed order calls for the state to spend an additional $586 million a month to cover Medicaid-related bills incurred after June 30, 2017.
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Talks over boosting Illinois Medicaid payments fail
Negotiations over increasing Illinois' payments to Medicaid providers have failed, opening the door for a U.S. judge to force the cash-strapped state to pay as much as $1 billion a month to ensure medical care continues for the program's three million recipients, according to a court filing on Monday.
The move would cause a huge problem for the state, which has accumulated a $15 billion bill backlog due to a budget stalemate between its Republican governor and Democrats who control the legislature. It could force Illinois to stop making full payments on other state-mandated or court-ordered spending such as pensions and payroll.
The filing in U.S. District Court by attorneys representing Medicaid recipients asked Judge Joan Lefkow to order the state to pay $500 million a month for four months to start reducing a $3.1 billion pile of unpaid bills owed to managed care organizations that turn pay doctors and others.
As long as Illinois remains without an enacted budget, the proposed order calls for the state to spend an additional $586 million a month to cover Medicaid-related bills incurred after June 30, 2017.
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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-illinois-budget-medicaid-idUSKBN19I08D
