![](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/389/2019/08/05163953/Pritzker.jpg)
By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker Monday signed a bill touted as a streamlining of Medicaid.
“We are reforming and improving access to Medicaid, the largest single source of insurance in our state,” covering about three million people, the governor said at a bill-signing ceremony in Chicago. “This legislation launches one of the most aggressive cross-agency efforts in Illinois history to expand healthcare access and to eliminate the multi-year Medicaid backlog once and for all.”
That backlog was as high as 120,000 applications. The Pritzker administration is taking credit for cutting that down to 95,000.
The state’s Department of Human Services is to set up a claims clearinghouse and settle disputes between providers and managed care organizations.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].