Gov. Pat Quinn is crowing that Illinois’ pile of overdue bills has dropped to $3.9 billion.
But the governor’s office does not count health care bills until they’re past due. Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka includes Medicaid invoices as soon as the state is billed. That takes the total backlog to $4.4 billion.
Quinn says his “tough decisions” helped draw down the backlog. He says the state “is in a stronger financial position than we were five years ago and we have more work to do.”
The governor’s office says the typical backlog — based on a 30-day billing standard — is about $2.2 billion.