The state of Illinois is expected to hire more than 300 training and technical staff members in an attempt to bring down a backlog of unprocessed Medicaid applications.
The General Assembly also approved a bill this spring aimed at addressing problems with the Medicaid program. Those include a high denial rate cited by providers and the application processing backlog – which has reached over 100,000.
State Sen. Heather Steans, a Chicago Democrat, the bill’s sponsor, said, “The federal government actually has outstanding problems with the state, and the state’s at risk of losing some dollars from the federal government because of the long, long backlog,” she said.
Applications are going unprocessed now for long periods, which is now in violation of federal rules. Many who do have the insurance for lower income individuals lose it because of problems with the renewal process. That’s according to Dan Rabbitt, a health polucy expert with the the Heartland Alliance.
Medicaid applications, under federal rules, are supposed to processed within 45 days, but he says that’s not happening now.
“There are over 100,000 cases currently pending, that have blown past that mandated … timeliness requirement. So those are people who need health insurance and who don't have it. Their applications are in limbo while they're waiting,” he said.
The new hires are in the departments of Healthcare and Family Services and Human Services.
