Surveys show that Americans are divided in their views of the Affordable Care Act. With the incoming administration in Washington vowing to dismantle the federal healthcare law, this blog post examines Illinois’ expansion of the Medicaid program under the act. Medicaid expansion was a key feature of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), designed to reduce the number of people without health insurance. While much of the debate about the 2010 law has focused on its insurance marketplaces, the Medicaid…
The fate of a proposal to use more than $5 billion in new federal funds to overhaul the State of Illinois’ Medicaid program remains unclear as a new gubernatorial administration takes office in Springfield. As previously discussed on this blog, the five-year proposal focuses on developing more community-based alternatives to institutional care for individuals with disabilities, including supportive housing for people with mental health and substance abuse problems. The plan also seeks new…
As the State of Illinois nears its deadline for moving Medicaid recipients into managed care, three managed care organizations have been disciplined for providing poor quality medical care or failing to comply with operational requirements. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) announced on November 14, 2014 that Harmony Health Plan, Family Health Network and Illinois Partnership for Health had been suspended from receiving new Medicaid clients through automatic…
In the past few months, it has become evident that Illinois vastly underestimated the number of newly eligible recipients who would sign up for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. However, the fiscal implications of the unexpectedly strong enrollment remain unclear. Governor Pat Quinn said on September 30, 2014 that 468,000 newly eligible individuals had enrolled in Illinois’ Medicaid program. The Governor made the announcement at an event marking the one-year anniversary on October 1 of…
Despite Illinois’ tight budget for the current fiscal year, the State enacted major Medicaid legislation featuring increased payments to nursing homes and hospitals. Public Act 98-0651 covers 231 pages and was the result of months of negotiations involving legislators, State officials and healthcare providers. The legislation was introduced as an amendment to an existing bill on May 26, 2014—the final week of the spring session. It cleared the House of Representatives on May 28, the Senate on…
More Illinois residents than originally projected are signing up for Medicaid as a result of the federal Affordable Care Act, but the long-term impact on the State budget remains unclear. Illinois officials had initially projected that 241,500 new recipients would sign up by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30, 2014. The current enrollment estimate for year-end FY2014 is 78.1% higher at 430,000. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that pays for healthcare for certain categories…
UPDATE: On June 4, 2014, the State of Illinois filed its application for a $5 billion Medicaid plan with the federal government. Advocates for Medicaid recipients said they were told by State officials that there were no substantial changes from the version of the plan posted for public comment in February. Original post published on April 11, 2014 Despite a scheduled submission date of March 12, 2014, the State of Illinois has not yet filed an application to use more than $5 billion in new…
The State of Illinois hopes to receive approximately $3.25 billion in new federal Medicaid funding under a proposal to be submitted to the federal government in March. The estimated amount of new federal funding in the State’s comprehensive waiver proposal was discussed at a General Assembly hearing in Chicago on January 22. Consultants testified that the new funding would be based on State costs of $650 million a year that are not currently reimbursed by the federal government but that would…
On December 18, 2013, the Illinois General Assembly held its first hearing on the plan to apply for a federal waiver to overhaul the State’s Medicaid program. State officials plan to submit an application to the federal government by the middle of February 2014. A draft of the proposal—scheduled to be posted for comment on January 5—is likely to be delayed because of continuing work on the financial aspects of the plan, according to testimony at the joint hearing in Chicago of two House…
The State of Illinois plans to apply for a sweeping federal waiver to overhaul its Medicaid program, according to a draft concept paper issued on November 7, 2013. The waiver proposal, called Path to Transformation, covers all of the State’s Medicaid spending and all of the populations that are currently eligible or may be eligible under the federal Affordable Care Act. It would allow Illinois to test new approaches that do not conform to federal program rules and to receive federal funding to…
