By AP/KWMU
Springfield, Ill. – The federal government has okayed a plan to tax hospitals in Illinois as a way to get them more money for treating poor patients.
The plan promises $430 million more for Illinois hospitals. Lawmakers and Governor Rod Blagojevich developed the idea last winter that increased taxes on hospitals by $560 million. That money went into the state's Medicaid fund and made Illinois eligible for the additional federal money.
The new funds will be distributed among hospitals statewide with the most going to those with the fastest-growing caseload of low-income Medicaid patients.
Some of the money will go to nursing homes and for the care of the developmentally disabled.