Judge rules Illinois not in compliance on Medicaid payments

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Illinois isn't in compliance with court orders to pay health care bills for low-income and other vulnerable groups as the state heads into a third year without a budget, though she did not order the state to pay $2 billion in unpaid Medicaid bills immediately and in full.

Lefkow's three-page ruling in Chicago says state officials "have not lived up to their agreements" in the civil case that dates back to the 1990s, when Illinois first entered into a court-enforced consent decree requiring that it keep up Medicaid payments even through the kinds of financial crises the state is currently in.

Lawyers for the Medicaid recipients welcomed the order, saying it helps establish that payments to health-care providers should be at least as high a priority as other payments, including for state salaries.