Illinois to replace private firm with state workers to scrub state’s Medicaid eligibility rolls

The late newspaper columnist Charley Reese once wrote: “Government is inherently incompetent, and no matter what task it is assigned, it will do it in the most expensive and inefficient way possible.” Reese could have easily been referring to the state of Illinois’ recent decision to replace a private firm to scrub the state’s Medicaid...

The late newspaper columnist Charley Reese once wrote: “Government is inherently incompetent, and no matter what task it is assigned, it will do it in the most expensive and inefficient way possible.”

Reese could have easily been referring to the state of Illinois’ recent decision to replace a private firm to scrub the state’s Medicaid eligibility rolls.

The reason the private firm was sought in the first place was that the state was failing to verify Medicaid eligibility, confirmed by the state’s own Auditor General. In response to years of waste, fraud and abuse, state lawmakers took action and hired a private firm to do the job, but a labor union made up of state workers has been fighting the decision.

At a time when some lawmakers are pushing for further expansion of the Medicaid program in Illinois through ObamaCare, taxpayers should – at a minimum – expect that government officials act as good stewards of taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars. Unfortunately, this sad episode points to state officials putting political interests over the interests of taxpayers. That is why lawmakers and government officials should be prepared to answer some important questions, such as:

• Is your top priority program integrity or appeasement of a powerful labor union?

• Do you believe that verifying income and residency in a timely manner is too strict and that eligibility should be made even more lenient?

• Is it acceptable to you and your constituents that the number of people wrongfully receiving Medicaid benefits in Illinois is greater than the number of people receiving benefits in 14 other states?

If Gov. Pat Quinn and state administrators are serious about Illinois’ Medicaid program’s integrity, there should be no question that Illinois needs to continue to scrub the rolls using a private contractor. Waste, fraud and abuse are rampant in the state’s Medicaid program, and the state has a long record of failure in this area. One need look no further than the state’s Auditor General report for verification of that fact.

The only remaining question is how the governor and lawmakers will respond. Having replaced the expensive and inefficient approach with a results-driven one that found hundreds of thousands ineligible but enrolled in Medicaid, does Illinois want to go back in time and prove Charley Reese correct?