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WNIJ's summary of news items around our state.

Funding For Medicaid Providers Uncertain After Federal Judge Ruling

Flickr user / Images Money "Healthcare Costs" (CC BY 2.0)

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is not yet saying whether it plans to fund Medicaid providers outside Cook County. That question remained after a federal judge ordered the state to pay providers in Cook County while the budget impasse at the Statehouse continues.

A decade-old court order was used as a vehicle to sue state government and force Medicaid payments to Cook County hospitals and doctors.

Democratic Sen. Heather Steans says she hopes Gov. Rauner, a Republican, expands that ruling to Medicaid providers all across the state.

“We have really critical access, safety-net hospitals in rural towns that have as difficult, if not more difficult, of a time than the safety nets in the inner city of Chicago,” Steans said.

Attorneys for the state argued against the court mandate, saying there’s no evidence hospitals have denied service to anyone because of the budget impasse at the Statehouse.

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