The federal government generally reimburses states for 50% of Medicaid claims. How’s it possible that nobody noticed earlier that the state was running $600 million short on reimbursement for services rendered up to 2 1/2 years ago?
That’s upsetting, to put it nicely, but at least the agencies responsible came right out and told us, issuing their own press release on Friday. It’s the kind of thing you’d normally expect to be hidden.
On Friday, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) and the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) announced they had “identified a computer programming error that led to incomplete federal Medicaid match claims totaling $601 million.
A technical coding error delayed communication between IDHS and HFS to submit claims for federal Medicaid reimbursement for community-based services for people with developmental disabilities, they said, about the $601 million in overlooked federal reimbursements.
The $601 million was for payments for service dates between the end of 2020 and June 2022.
“The vast majority of the spending is still claimable and HFS will seek a federal waiver to process claims for a smaller number of older bills impacted,” the agencies claim.
An additional $250-$300 million in federal claiming was delayed for the period in the 2023 fiscal year prior to when the programming fix was implemented. These amounts will also be claimed in the 2024 fiscal year, according to the press release.
Fortunately, the agencies say, there was no delay in payment to organizations providing services to individuals and no postponement of any developmental disability services.
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Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about the details of Gov. Pritzker’s proposed $52 billion budget, why the state is struggling now that federal covid dollars have run out, the controversy surrounding Tier 2 government pensions, why Illinois’ expensive education system fails to teach children to read, the outrageous demands of the Chicago Teachers Union, and more.
Ted joined Jeff Daly to discuss how politicians can never spend enough on education despite there being no accountability for that spending, the growth of education staffing across Illinois, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $1 billion demand for Chicago schools, why Gov. Pritzker is providing $830 million in taxpayer subsidies to struggling EV carmaker Rivian, and more.
I’m wondering if the original coding was correct, but then inflated to claim more work than was actually performed. That claim that was submitted as a home checkup visit was really a 3 hour therapy session. Computer glitch- give us more money!
Guv Pigchop doesn’t care about Illinois citizens. Plus he wears a man girdle to keep his massive gut under control!
Grifters, each and every one of them…
Only Illinois democrats could lose track of half a billion dollars
Chump change to them.
Totally get it, every time I screw up at work I blame it on a computer glitch, works every time.
Remember when an audit showed that Cook County Hospital failed for years to bill & collect from the insurance they knew some patients had??? It was in the millions of dollars too. #goodtimes
A 600M mea culpa. That’s the Illinois some voted for.
Wow, that’s great. On the positive side, the state has more money than they thought, on the negative side, the State has more money than they thought…its already spent anyway. Ya know, ‘cuz, We need more programs…
That’s what happens when everyone is working (not likely) from home.
Because no state employees, or political appointee department heads, are paying attention.
Collect by airmail and pay by dog sled.
Zero coverage of this story in press. And I’m sure not a afscme sole was disciplined or fired as usual.
Dear Jabba:
How about about using the “found” money to give a tax rebate?
Sincerely,
Your bankrupt llinois non-public union voter