IL Medicaid Cleanup Yielding Lower-Than-Hoped Savings

Illinois officials say the state saved about $44 million in five months because of a vendor's work to scrub unentitled Illinois residents from the Medicaid rolls. Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Julie Hamos detailed the savings yesterday at a legislative hearing in Chicago. The work resulted in the state canceling Medicaid for more than 125, 000 people. Outsourcing that task will cost the state about $70 million over two years. Hamos says 40% of the people kicked off Medicaid had no medical costs in the past six months, resulting in lower than projected savings.