Illinois providers could stop seeing Medicaid patients due to late state payments
Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) serving beneficiaries in Illinois said they may stop doing so unless the state government resumes regular Medicaid payments as previously ordered by a federal judge.
WBEZ’s Tony Arnold reported the state of Illinois was told to continue making Medicaid payments when the state entered a fiscal year beginning in July 2015 without lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner passing a state budget.
Two years later, there’s still no budget, and 25 MCOs, including Aetna, said the state is violating the original order by delaying Medicaid payments. In Aetna’s case, it claimed the state owes it $650 million for claims dating back to October 2016. If the late reimbursements continue, Aetna Better Health CFO Debra Bacon said it may have to delay its payments to providers within the MCO.
“In turn, those providers may stop serving the Medicaid and Medicare populations … which include hundreds of thousands of underprivileged Illinois residents,” Bacon wrote in an affidavit.
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John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.