Published June 25, 2011

To the Editor:

“Children on Medicaid Shown to Wait Longer for Care” (news article, June 16) highlights the sad but true reality of the Medicaid program in Illinois — “insurance coverage” without access to medical care.

Despite a successful lawsuit to increase primary-care reimbursements, average Medicaid fees in Illinois remain behind 40 states. Physicians want to care for all patients, but many of us can’t keep our doors open if we take any more Medicaid patients than we already do.

Our General Assembly recently passed “reform” legislation that shifts half of Medicaid patients into mandatory managed-care plans. The law completely failed to address inadequate reimbursement levels. Insurance companies, which will manage this care, will do so at a profit. Physicians who choose to participate will do so at reimbursement levels that will not cover the cost of the care.

The Medicaid population in Illinois will soon expand by an estimated 700,000 to 800,000 because of health reform. Our access problems are bad now, but they’ll only get worse until our mess gets fixed.

Sincerely,

Wayne V. Polek, MD
President, Illinois State Medical Society