Billions in Profits, Millions in Unpaid Claims: Medicaid Insurers Leave Illinois Providers Struggling, Patients Losing Care

Small clinics and hospitals are drowning in denied and delayed claims from Illinois Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs). To cope, some have stopped accepting Medicaid altogether. Meanwhile, MCOs see increasing profits, but aren’t meeting patient care metrics.

by Rachel Heimann Mercader, Freelance Investigative Journalist August 5, 2025August 5, 2025

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Billions in Profits, Millions in Unpaid Claims: Medicaid Insurers Leave Illinois Providers Struggling, Patients Losing Care

by Rachel Heimann Mercader, Freelance Investigative Journalist, Illinois Answers Project
August 5, 2025

<h1>Billions in Profits, Millions in Unpaid Claims: Medicaid Insurers Leave Illinois Providers Struggling, Patients Losing Care</h1>
<p class="byline">by Rachel Heimann Mercader, Freelance Investigative Journalist, Illinois Answers Project <br />August 5, 2025</p>
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Tagged: Blue Cross Blue Shield, claims, delayed claims, denials, Health Care, health providers, Humana, Illinois, Insurance, managed care organization, MCO, Medicaid, Meridian, Molina, profits, reimbursements

Rachel Heimann Mercader, Freelance Investigative JournalistFreelance Investigative Journalist

Rachel Heimann Mercader is a freelance investigative journalist based in Chicago. She is also a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and a former intern with the Illinois Answers Project.

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