EDITORIAL: Illinois can’t afford these mistakes

March 28--Illinois remains a state with unrivaled financial woes. Its governmental agencies can't just leave millions sitting on the table.

Yet two state audits -- of the Department of Human Services and the Department of Healthcare and Family Services -- found that Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration didn't recoup $76 million in overpayments to private Medicaid-program insurers dating back five years, as well as paid $71 million for Medicaid services without checking whether the clients were still eligible.

Given that the payments involve Medicaid managed care organizations, it's critical this doesn't happen again. MCOs, private insurance-run system for low-income and disabled residents, now handle 80 percent of the state's 3.4 million Medicaid cases. Sloppiness cannot be tolerated when so many people are dependent on MCO-provided services.

Rauner downplayed the findings, saying mistakes get made, but when a problem is found it is corrected. A DHFS spokesman said the state began seeking some of the reimbursement before the audit began, and a new system will help better serve Medicaid recipients and taxpayers.

We are not a state that can play fast and loose with money when Illinois remains in such a perilous fiscal condition. The state must move to recover the overpayments and figure out how to prevent it from happening again.

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