A federal judge in Chicago has delayed a ruling Wednesday on whether the state of Illinois should speed up hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid payments during the budget impasse.
Illinois is getting later and later in paying its bills because of the budget impasse. The state has total of $14.2 billion in bills waiting to be paid -- $1 billion of that owed to Aetna and Meridian.
The two giant health-insurance companies reimburse doctors who see poor patients, and they’re asking Judge Joan Lefkow to move Medicaid to the front of the long line of unpaid Illinois bills.
Two years ago, Lefkow mandated that the state pay for Medicaid during the budget impasse. Currently, doctors and insurance companies who serve low-income patients say the state is so late in paying that it’s in violation of the judge’s order.
The attorneys for the state argue that moving Medicaid up would mean that payroll, schools, pensions and debt payments all get moved down.
The judge delayed making a decision for a week, but she said it doesn’t seem right that Medicaid payments are being de-prioritized.
As the hearing ended, the judge said, “I don’t envy you,” to the state’s attorneys.
