The contract has rolled out in phases as some foster parents complained they could not fill prescriptions or even schedule regular check-ups for children with serious medical conditions.
Last year, Meridian began producing for state officials quarterly slideshows with basic data about its performance in delivering care. The slides are meant to outline whether Meridian is meeting timeliness and quality standards, and what it’s doing to overcome problems.
But when the BGA asked last month to see those slideshows, state officials turned them over almost completely redacted with entire slides blacked out.
The contractor’s performance data constituted “trade secrets,” HFS explained in its denial letter to the BGA.
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The for-profit insurance companies running Illinois Medicaid collected hundreds of millions of dollars in extra profits during the COVID-19 pandemic — much of it for services never provided to patients,
In a followup email earlier this month, Eagleson’s top spokeswoman said, “purely as a snapshot in time, initial incomplete figures indicate HFS would recoup over $120 million” from the insurance firms for calendar year 2020. Those funds will come through a program called a “risk corridor” that reallocates money if the companies exceed or fall short of targets for medical care.
“Illinois was one of the first states in the country to implement risk corridors during the pandemic to further restrict possible profit margins,” said Jamie Munks, Eagleson’s spokeswoman. “We will recoup more from the health plans than we otherwise would have.”