Springfield… On a day that saw a rare, bi-partisan effort to rein in state spending, State  Representative Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro) voted in favor of historic Medicaid reform legislation aimed at cutting Illinois’ Medicaid spending and reversing a decade long trend of exploding costs.

“Today’s vote was crucial to stabilizing Illinois’ budget.  If we did nothing, our backlog of unpaid bills was expected to grow to $21 billion by 2017 –  that’s more than our entire Medicaid budget this year,” said Bost.

According to Bost, a key component of the bill is the hiring of a private vendor to “scrub” Illinois’ Medicaid rolls.  “Individuals who make too much money, are not residents of Illinois, aged-out of the KidsCare program, or have died will be removed from the Medicaid rolls.  It is anticipated that 300,000 individuals will be taken off the Medicaid rolls – this eligibility verification alone will save Illinois’ taxpayers $350 million.”

Senate Bill 2840 also rolls back the Blagojevich expansion of Family Care by reducing the eligibility limit for parents and imposes a $10 co-pay for emergency room visits. Medicaid recipients will also now be required to make a $3.60 co-pay for all services and a $2 co-pay for generic medications, and eliminates funding for adult chiropractic services.

The bill also provides for a moderate rate reduction for hospitals of 3.5% and exempts Critical Access and Safety Net Hospitals from the reduction.

Rep. Bost added that he voted against the so-called Obamacare expansion for Cook County, contained in House Bill 5007.