A federal judge has ordered the State of Illinois to speed up required payments to Medicaid providers during its budget impasse.
In her ruling yesterday, Judge Joan Lefkow says their request to pay Medicaid faster is reasonable, but she stopped short of saying how the state should find the money. Instead, she ordered the state and attorneys for Medicaid providers to figure something out themselves in the next two weeks. If they fail to reach a solution, the two parties will be due back in court.
The state has claimed that, if Medicaid does get paid faster, schools or pensions could be the ones waiting longer for state money. In contrast, attorneys for some low-income Medicaid patients say the state’s gotten so late in reimbursing doctors and hospitals that providers may stop treating them.