CHICAGO — Following a federal judge’s ruling last week that payments to Cook County Medicaid providers must continue even without a state budget, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) announced today that payments for Medicaid services throughout Illinois will continue to be paid during the budget standoff.
“HFS will be making payments to its providers to ensure children in Illinois have access to necessary healthcare services,” says the statement. “The department intends to continue this funding until a new state budget is approved.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow ordered the payments last week for Cook County Medicaid providers, after advocates for Medicaid recipients brought the matter to court.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration tried to avoid payments and asked providers of the federal-state health program for poor and disabled people to continue offering care during the impasse and to wait for reimbursement.
The first-term Republican governor and Democrat-controlled Legislature remain deadlocked on a July 1 fiscal year budget.
The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law and AIDS Legal Council of Chicago brought the case and it was anticipated the effects would ripple beyond Cook County.