By Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – Regardless of what a new Congress does with Obamacare, states will start to pick up part of the cost for their ‘newly eligible’ Medicaid patients next year.

In Illinois, that means almost $100 million for almost 600,000 mostly-single, able-bodied men who enrolled in Medicaid because of Obamacare, according to Nic Horton with the Foundation for Government Accountability.

“In Illinois, you enrolled twice as many able-bodied adults as the state said would ever enroll (in Obamacare),” Horton said. “Five percent of those costs are going to be passed along to the state in less than two months.”

Starting in January, Illinois is going to see new Medicaid bills arrive, and Horton said Illinois can’t pay the bills it already has.

“The State of Illinois isn’t exactly flush with cash,” Horton said. “You’ve got nearly $10 billion in unpaid bills, you’ve got the worst-funded pension system in the country. The money’s not there, so the money has to come from somewhere.”

Horton said the money will likely come from Illinois’ traditional Medicaid patients, including single moms and and people with disabilities.

Illinois will get 95 cents on the dollar from Washington for the newly-eligibles, and 50 cents on the dollar for traditional patients.

Horton said the math makes it easy to see where the state will cut to save money.