A so-called "hospital assessment plan" in Illinois that is intended to draw down about $1 billion annually in federal Medicaid funds has not been implemented because of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's (D) legal troubles and the state's fiscal problems, the GateHouse News/Peoria Journal Star reports. Federal officials approved the plan on Dec. 4, 2008, and hospitals had expected to start receiving the funds by Feb. 1. Under the plan, money hospitals pay to the state is used to draw down federal funding.

Hospitals need about $1 billion to start the assessment program but they have been unable to come up with those funds. Howard Peters, senior vice president of the Illinois Hospital Association, said once the program begins, it will be self-financing, which means that if state officials borrow money to start the program, "they immediately get the money back and can pay off the borrowing and come out ahead…