Against Medicaid Cuts & Privatization

NA4J members Virginia Hester and Maryon Banks

NA4J members leafleted the crowd at an appearance by Gov. Quinn and US HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, calling for an end to the privatized contract with Maximus corp, whose aim is to knock at lat 40,000 people off of Illinois Medicaid.

NA4J has heard reports of people losing Medical cards, from Springfield to Chicago, because of the Maximus contract. Maximus is mailing notices to beneficiaries in a nondescript envelope that can easily be confused with junk mail (we're told this will be changed). If they do not respond with requested documentation within 10 days, they are deemed ineligible for the program. Non-response, whether it's because of mental illness, or missing the letter or simply because of postal delivery problems and - poof! - they can claim to have rooted out fraud, thus justifying the $85 million contract.

Under the Affordable Care Act, states that get extra federal money to add people to their Medicaid programs are not allowed to simply cut people from the state-funded rolls then add them back later on the federally-funded program. NA4J was not able to ask Secretary Sebelius how Quinn's Maximus project squares with that requirement.