Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the Office of Management and Budget re-worked language in a loan plan worth $1.4 billion so the State can pay some of its lat Medicaid payments and other obligations. The Attorney General was concerned about language in the loan plan which asked her office to certify the forthcoming loan was free of civil and criminal liabilities. Clearly, with the ongoing investigation of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris, AG Madigan was unable to make such an assertion. However, once the liability requirement was modified, the loan went through rather quickly. The Governor’s office issued a press release last Thursday indicating that the state should receive the funds from the short-term borrowing before the start of the New Year. Under that scenario Medicaid payments to providers should be occurring in January.
The amount of these payments is still undetermined, but lobbyists in the affiliate Life Services Network indicate it could be anywhere between one and three months arrears.
Nursing Home Administrators' Blog 