* Crain’s…
Gov. JB Pritzker, joined by Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and several members of the Illinois congressional delegation, spoke this morning about the devastating impact to Illinois Medicaid recipients the federal budget represents.
The House budget calls for $2 trillion in cuts focused on safety-net programs like Medicaid, though it does not specify exact measures on individual cuts.
Almost 3.4 million people, including half the children in the state, are covered by Medicaid, Pritzker said. Medicaid is the largest insurer of people in nursing homes, he noted.
Click here to view Medicaid enrollment by Illinois State House and Senate districts.
* The Governor was asked about the budget ramifications if Federal Medicaid funds were cut…
There’s no chance that the state of Illinois can make up for the dollars that we would lose if Medicaid is impacted in the ways that we believe that it will be because you’re talking about, if you just talked about the Medicaid expansion, which they’re talking about seemingly much more than that. But if you just talk about that piece, right, that’s about seven and a half billion dollars that the state of Illinois would have to come up with in order to extend that program and pay for it ourselves. There is not seven and a half billion dollars in the state of Illinois that we have to make up for that program. What would we have to do? I mean, we have contingency programs that we’ve thought up and put on paper that we want to put in place if, God forbid this happens.
But the reality is, it’s going to involve encouraging free care clinics, making sure that hospitals stay open as best we can, because they’re going to be layoffs across the state of Illinois. And Senator Durbin said earlier that he’s from Springfield, all across central Illinois, where he’s from, there will be closures. I mean literally, these hospitals cannot survive without they serve. They have populations, sometimes 60, 70, 80 percent of the population that they serve are Medicaid recipients, just like the safety net hospitals here in the city of Chicago. So I it’s it will be devastating.
There is not enough that the state can do to make up for the damage that Elon Musk, maybe I should say President Musk, and President Trump will do to the people of Illinois.
* From the governor’s press release…
Illinois Medicaid By-the-Numbers:
- Illinoisans Covered by Medicaid: 3.4 million. Approximately 1 in 4 Illinoisans
- Illinois Children Covered by Medicaid: 1.4 million
- Percentage of Illinois Births Covered by Medicaid: 44%
- Illinois Adults Covered by ACA Expansion: 770,000
- Illinois Nursing Home Days Covered by Medicaid: 68%
- Percentage of IL Community Mental Health Center Patients Covered by Medicaid: 80%
- Percentage of people in IL living with HIV covered by Medicaid: 50%
- Number of people employed by Illinois hospitals and health systems: 445,000 (11% of the state’s total employment)
Among the most vulnerable to Republican cuts are the 770,000 Illinoisans who are covered through the ACA expansion, who would otherwise be ineligible for Medicaid. The last time Republicans attempted to eliminate the ACA Medicaid expansion in 2017, it was estimated that Illinois could lose between 55,000 to 60,000 jobs statewide and $7.5 billion in annual economic activity.
Cuts to Medicaid will affect the most vulnerable people in our communities – low-income adults, children, pregnant women, individuals with disabilities, seniors with limited financial resources, and people living in rural areas. A reduction to Medicaid services would also have a devastating impact on hospitals and health systems. In fiscal year 2024, the Medicaid program in Illinois paid $10.8 billion to hospitals, $3.8 billion to Long-Term Care facilities, $4.5 billion to pharmacies, and $2.1 billion to physicians and clinics across the state.
Medicaid also plays a critical role in Illinois’ economy, supporting jobs and communities across the state. Illinois’ hospitals and health systems, most of which serve Medicaid enrollees, annually generate $117.7 billion for the state. This breaks down to $50.3 billion for payroll, $61.8 billion for supplies and services, and $5.6 billion in capital funding. Every dollar spent on these categories, generates an additional $1.40 in spending, ultimately contributing to the growth of local economies across the state. Illinois hospitals and health systems also support 445,000 full-time jobs, comprising 11% of the state’s total employment.
- Just Me 2 - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 1:05 pm:
Nice try, but unfortunately Republicans just don’t care about poor people. To them they should just all “get a job.” Their approach to Medicaid is that the entire program is a government give-away to lazy people and they have no problem cutting it.
- Sue - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 1:09 pm:
Lets just remember that Medicaid was vastly expanded during Covid way beyond its original parameters- covid is over so what is wrong to undoing the covid expansion?
- illinifan - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 1:17 pm:
Sue, COVID expansion was more about not conducting redetermination reviews. These are now occurring so people are being dropped. The big ticket will be ACA adults which was the expansion under the Affordable Care Act. If these people lose coverage it will result in a big hole in many hospital budgets particularly the Cook County Health System. That said if people are uninsured they will still need to access health care in an emergency. Since the cost would be uncompensated hospitals will have to recover the costs from those who can pay or are uninsured.
- JS Mill - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 1:17 pm:
=so what is wrong to undoing the covid expansion?=
Why not cancel farm subsidies and other government handouts to business first? I mean we are a capitalist country and all. I am sure you agree.
- DuPage Saint - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 1:24 pm:
@JSMill. You are absolutely right run a doge through that program
- Steve - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 1:28 pm:
-Why not cancel farm subsidies and other government handouts to business first-
This is a great idea because if you gut farm subsidies grocery prices would drop at least 30%
- Ducky LaMoore - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 1:45 pm:
Sue, Illinois expanded Medicaid in 2014. COVID continuous enrollment ended two years ago.
- ArchPundit - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 1:51 pm:
Serious cutbacks in Medicaid will hit rural areas the hardest. Without the ACA dollars many small rural hospitals would not be able to continue operation. Some urban hospitals would be hit as well, but they are in a better position to maintain an insurance base.
Oh, and the rural nursing homes would be damaged too.
===This is a great idea because if you gut farm subsidies grocery prices would drop at least 30%
Probably more complicated than that, but we could reduce subsidies to larger farm corporations, but we need those subsidies to maintain anything other than large consolidated farming operations.
- Jibba - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 1:51 pm:
2T is about 1/3 of the total 6.7T federal government expenditures. This would be a near devastation of the social safety net, and not just Medicaid. Hardly a trim or cutback to a previous level, Sue.
- Honeybear - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 1:52 pm:
Here in St.Clair County the effect would be beyond catastrophic. One thing I think conservatives don’t think about is the real economic impact. They get so caught up in the poorly self differentiated argument of because “I don’t need it, nobody else should need it.” Or that it’s waste fraud and abuse. There might be waste fraud and abuse from the Hospitals and providers but not from the healthcare users. Most folks I see every day are just honest hardworking parents who’s employment doesn’t give them healthcare or they can’t get enough hours to qualify. They’ve got kids and need insurance. In the third largest concentration of poverty in the state, the loss of Medicaid dollars would destroy most healthcare services in the region, leaving only a few of the big ones standing. That’s a deathblow economically. Not being hyperbolic here…a literal death blow to the local economy. The Metro East doesn’t have a lot of economic engines. Healthcare is our most important one.
If you want a good reason to keep Medicaid, really you only have to look at what it’s loss would do to a local economy.
- Honeybear - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 1:57 pm:
Also I just noticed the percentage of nursing home days covered by Medicaid 68%.
What you may not know is that not only would the failure of nursing homes kick out a lot of elderly and infirm folks…
a huge huge percentage of SNAP recipients income are from customers who work at the many many nursing homes as CNA’s or other workers.
So snap will go up if you take that income away.
The crisis in nursing homes is enough to prove we shouldn’t effect Medicaid.
- Demoralized - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 2:06 pm:
==so what is wrong==
Typical conservative “I don’t care about people” attitude. Are you so callous and uncaring that you just are OK with people losing access to healthcare? It’s just a dispicable attitude to have and it boggles my mind how callous you and your ilk are.
- JS Mill - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 2:11 pm:
=This is a great idea because if you gut farm subsidies grocery prices would drop at least 30%=
So, it is ok that government subsidies (taxpayer money) is propping a number of industries including ag, but we should devastate the healthcare industry to stick it to poor people?
I don’t know, seems like a hypocritical way to cut your nose off to spite your face. And it does not seem what was intended by Matthew 25:40 either.
- PoliticsD - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 2:12 pm:
These guys going to crash the economy so hard.. wake up congressional republicans.. you’ll be out of a job in two years
- Retired School Board Member - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 2:16 pm:
Unfortunately, it will take inhumane, catastrophic events like these cuts for the moderates to align with progressives.
President Musk has a vision of his utopia; the poor, the infirmed and people of color are not in it.
- Perrid - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 2:28 pm:
Jibba, the budget talk is over 10 years. Medicaid cuts are supposed to be $880 billion, so around $80 billion a year.
That’s the most aggravating thing to me, even with SHARP cuts, the tax cuts they’re planning would still put us more and more in debt. If they actually cared about the debt they’d roll back the tax cuts.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 2:34 pm:
This along with more tax handouts to billionaires might be the most Republican Christianity thing ever. But many who voted for this one way or another (see Joe, Genocide), they are not going to cry about it now if it affects them, are they? /s
- Honeybear - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 2:38 pm:
“you’ll be out of a job in two years”
Okay, so here’s my darkest thoughts…
They won’t be
Because I believe that this is part of
“The Great Provocation”
Medicaid gone, Social Security collapses, Governement shut down. VA destroyed.
The American people will hit the streets
Then
Martial law nationwide is declared.
Game Over
Like I said, my darkest thoughts.
- Dpiman - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 2:52 pm:
HFS and DHS Directors need to go. DHS Director does not have the credentials for an Agency the size of DHS.
- TheInvisibleMan - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 2:58 pm:
“The American people will hit the streets”
That is far, far, far from a dark thought.
The dark thought is recognizing that part isn’t going to happen, and the slide continues to its inevitable end with complete complacency of the citizenry.
Right now, with all that is going on, the best the opposition can do is ‘not buy anything for a day’. In other words, even with what’s happening now, the vast majority of people won’t do anything that even mildly inconveniences their lifestyle. And that’s considered taking action, so they think they already did their part.
And then, it just gets darker from there.
- Donnie Elgin - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 3:06 pm:
=Martial law nationwide is declared.
Game Over=
As someone accused of hyperventilating earlier today in comments - I would say take a breath.
- Henry Francis - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 3:20 pm:
Donnie - Honeybear ain’t being unreasonable. Sure firing the Joint Chief of Staff and some other top generals got the headlines, but did you see they also fired the top military lawyers because they apparently weren’t “well-suited” to provide recommendations when lawful orders are given.
https://www.businessinsider.com/most-shocking-pentagon-firing-lawyers-not-top-generals-legal-experts-2025-2
This administration is going to continue to push the limits on their power, and have been removing all the guard rails they can. No other administration has resorted to these sort of tactics (outside of war times).
- Honeybear - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 3:37 pm:
Admittedly, I’m often wrong. I hope I’m wrong. And…
The change I see is the right going ahead with massive cuts, slash and burn of the entire federal government and programs that are absolutely essential.
The only way I believe they could do that is to know they won’t have to be re-elected.
They’ll be appointed.
Trump wanted to do Martial Law last time he was in but there were guardrails upon guardrails. Those are really gone now, especially with the firing of the JAG for the Army, Navy and Airforce. Once the military pieces are in place we have a green light for it as I see it.
I hope I’m wrong.
But I’m still going to have the courage to say my fears aloud.
- JS Mill - Friday, Feb 28, 25 @ 3:41 pm:
=I would say take a breath.=
Tell that to Michael Flynn and Marjorie Greene among others. Those conversations actually happened in an American president’s office just 4 years ago. That guy is back in office and now and he has already tried to invalidate the 14th Amendment by presidential order.