Coming to a state near you Colorado – HUNDREDS ON MEDICAID WAITING LIST IN ILLINOIS DIE WHILE WAITING FOR CARE.

While 12,000 Illinoisans were removed from the Prioritization for Urgency of Need for Services list since May 2013, just 29 percent of those cases were closed because the Medicaid recipients had received all the services they needed. The rest were closed due to death, moving, withdrawal of requests, or other reasons. 

And, thanks to poor policy choices by the state, this waiting list nightmare may only be a sign of things to come.

The state’s most recent enrollment reports show more than 650,000 able-bodied adults have enrolled in Medicaid since the Obamacare expansion, and this enrollment shows no sign of slowing down. This is nearly twice as many adults as the state said would ever enroll and more than the state said would ever even be eligible.

Expansion costs are also significantly over projections. Despite promises from the administration of former Gov. Pat Quinn that total expansion costs would “only” hit $2.7 billion in the first two years, costs actually came in at $4.7 billion – 70 percent higher than promised.

Near the end of Quinn’s term, Quinn administration officials also confirmed in a memo to the federal government that the state’s share of the costs would soar. Officials revised state costs up to $2 billion through 2020, more than three times as much as initially expected. And the day of reckoning for state taxpayers is almost here: Starting in January 2017, the state will be on the hook for 5 percent of the expansion costs.

Certainly Colorado’s fiscal condition is superior to Illinois’ but Medicaid expansion will bring financial stress and calls for new taxes – Medicaid expansion strains state budget. Of course, the politicians on the left side of the aisle will no doubt say Medicaid is not the source of the problem.