Illinois Braces For Medicaid Backlog

CHICAGO - In a matter of days, state workers processing Medicaid applications for Illinois residents who signed up under President Barack Obama's health care law will face a monstrous backlog as thousands of applications stuck in the once-crippled federal enrollment system are transferred.

The latest kink in the enrollment process for the nation's new health insurance system was announced Thursday, just days after the latest figures showed 61,000 Illinois residents had signed up for private coverage since Oct. 1 through HealthCare.gov.

But while those people succeeded in picking a health plan, many others who might or might not qualify for Medicaid heard nothing as their applications waited in an electronic parking lot.

The Illinois Medicaid program received the first 5,000 of those Medicaid applications from the federal government Thursday, said Mike Koetting of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the state's Medicaid agency. Federal officials have informed Illinois there will be 76,000 total applications representing 110,000 individuals, Koetting said.

Individuals who make less than $15,860 per year qualify for Medicaid, as do families of four with annual income below $32,500. States have final say on who's eligible for Medicaid.