Illinois Faces ‘Potentially Paralyzing’ $35 Billion Unpaid Bill Backlog
Illinois (STOIL1)’s unpaid bills may more than triple to $34.8 billion by 2017 unless lawmakers and Democratic Governor Pat Quinn immediately bring Medicaid and pension spending under control, said a research group.
The “potentially paralyzing” backlog, projected to reach $9.2 billion when this fiscal year ends June 30, would be fueled by an “unsustainable” increase in Medicaid spending, according to the Civic Federation, which calls itself a nonpartisan government research organization.
“Failure to address unsustainable trends in the state’s pension and Medicaid systems will only result in financial disaster for the state of Illinois,” Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation in Chicago, said in a press release today.
Illinois had its general-obligation bond rating reduced Jan. 6 by Moody’s Investors Service to A2 from A1, making it the company’s lowest-graded U.S. state. Moody’s revised its outlook because the state “took no steps to implement lasting solutions to its severe pension underfunding or to its chronic bill payment delays.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Jones in Chicago at Tjones58@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net
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