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* Gov. JB Pritzker sent out three press releases this week about what the new federal budget reconciliation law does to Illinois. First up, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program…
• Stripping Benefits from Vulnerable Illinoisans: This bill changes eligibility requirements, putting an estimated 360,000 Illinoisans at risk of losing SNAP eligibility, removing work requirement exemptions for 23,000 unhoused, veterans, or youth aged out of foster care in Illinois, and costing Illinois tens of millions to support the additional administrative burden of policy implementation.
• Damaging Local Economies: SNAP supports more than 18,000 jobs in Illinois, across both the grocery and other supporting industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and municipal services. According to the National Grocer’s Association, SNAP supports nearly $1 billion in Illinois wages. The extreme cuts will have far reaching consequences for grocery stores and jobs as fewer SNAP dollars circulate in local economies.
• Destabilizing the Current Funding Framework: This bill would implement a state cost share of food benefits (which have historically been 100% federally funded). Calculated based on the State’s Payment Error Rate (PER), Illinois’ required contribution to SNAP will go from $0 (currently) to $705 million annually.
No commitment was made in the press release to try to lower the state’s high payment error rate.
* Medicaid…
• Medicaid Coverage Loss for 330,000 Illinoisans: According to Manatt Health, about 11% of current Medicaid enrollees in Illinois will lose coverage over the next decade.
o Illinois currently has 3.4 million Medicaid enrollees:
* 44% are children
* 9% are seniors
* 7% are adults with disabilities• Out of Pocket Expenses Expected to Rise for Medicaid Enrollees: ACA expansion adults - childless, nondisabled adults ages 19 through 64 enrolled in Medicaid - with incomes over 100% of the federal poverty level will be subject to cost-sharing for most healthcare services. For instance, an Illinois couple earning just over $21,000 per year could be subject to over $1,000 in higher out-of-pocket medical costs each year.
• Premiums will Increase 75% for Working Families with ACA Marketplace Coverage: Illinois families with ACA plans will pay an average of $1,032 more per year in premiums. Rural Illinoisans will be even harder hit, with an estimated increase of $1,700. Even those not on ACA Marketplace plans like employers and privately insured individuals will face rising costs and fewer provider options due to market instability and growing uncompensated care burdens on hospitals.
• Rural Hospitals and Nursing Homes in Jeopardy: 9 rural hospitals and over 90 nursing homes could face closure in Illinois, leaving entire communities and counties without access to care and an economic engine.
• Over $50 Billion in Medicaid Funding at Risk for 3.4 Million Illinoisans: Manatt Health estimates that the bill would force Illinois to lose about $52 billion in Medicaid funds over 10 years and put the coverage and benefits for all 3.4 million Illinoisans on Medicaid at risk. Freezing current provider taxes, reducing the hold harmless threshold for provider taxes in expansion states, and restricting state directed payments would be detrimental to not only the state budget but the hospitals, health systems, and approximately 240,000 providers who rely on payments from HFS for the care they provide to Illinois Medicaid customers.
• New Barriers to Coverage Through Work Requirements, Frequent Redeterminations, and Repealing Rules that Simplify Eligibility and Renewal: the bill imposes frequent and administratively burdensome eligibility checks and new work requirements. Illinois would face millions in IT costs and need to hire hundreds of new staff members to implement burdensome systems, draining state resources and harming access for eligible enrollees. Additionally, by changing enrollment rules, including implementing short enrollment periods and additional onerous requirements, Illinois’ most vulnerable eligible families will face an uphill battle to successfully navigate the system’s new red tape and enroll in benefits they are owed. Ultimately, these barriers will push more people to be uninsured, shift costs to hospitals and other providers, and lose the progress made under the ACA.
• Gutting of Reproductive Healthcare: Effective immediately, the bill also prohibits federal Medicaid matching funds for family planning and other reproductive healthcare services provided to Medicaid customers by Planned Parenthood clinics across the state.
* Education…
K-12
The federal spending bill defunds programs that support working families with school-age children by:
• Eliminating SNAP-Ed, the national education and obesity prevention grant program, which works with state and community partners to deliver nutrition education lessons,
• Reducing access to healthcare and meals for public school students by cutting Medicaid and SNAP benefits for their families,
• Creating a new tax credit refund that benefits private school donors who pay for tuition vouchers, potentially reducing state and federal funding for public schools that experience a decline in student enrollment, and
• Rescinding funding to address air pollution in schools through U.S. EPA.The State of Illinois has substantially improved K-12 adequacy levels and increased funding to EBF by $2.1B since Governor Pritzker took office. Additionally, through the Teacher Vacancy Pilot Program, Illinois is closing the gap to improve teacher recruitment and retention.
Higher Education
This federal spending bill aims to threaten college affordability for working-class students across Illinois by:
• Reducing annual limits for graduate and parent loans
o Non-professional graduate students (MA, PhD) will be limited to $20,500 per year in unsubsidized Stafford loans, and professional students (JD, MD, DO, DDS) will be limited to $50,000 per year in unsubsidized Stafford loans.
o Grad PLUS loans, which do not require a co-signer and often help students cover the full cost of attendance, will be eliminated beginning July 1, 2026. Nearly 23,000 Illinois graduate students currently utilize Grad PLUS loans.
o Parent PLUS loans, which currently have no limit and allow parents to borrow to alleviate college expense for their students based on cost-of-attendance, will now be limited to $20,000 per year for each dependent student.• Slashing options for student loan repayment:
o This bill reduces student loan repayment plan options from seven to only two. Many Illinois borrowers could end up paying more than expected on their loans under these plans.
o Illinois student loan borrowers who are unemployed or suffering an economic hardship will no longer be eligible to defer student loan payments. Without the ability to defer payments during tough times, more borrowers may fall behind on their loans, leading to defaults and negative impacts on their credit scores, home-buying, and employment opportunities.
Discuss.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 8:54 am
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I would love to see a breakout of these losses by Congressional & Senate Districts…my guess is that it will impact Republican Districts more than D Districts?
Comment by Are Ya Kiddin Me? Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 9:17 am
But the upside is the Golden Dome up in Space to protect us that will only cost $168 billion, be built in just ten years and will be 100% effective; ha ha. Also there is little press coverage but in the past ten years the federal government spent $109 billion to replace the “triggers” on our nuclear bomb stockpile. I am more interested in making Screw worms go the way of the dinosaur rather than investing in vaporizing cities but I guess I am old fashioned. These nuclear bombs should have been dismantled and converted into nuclear fuel rods to make energy.
Comment by Jack in Chatham Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 9:56 am
Removes work exemption for unhoused, students transitioning out of foster care…
So require state universities and state agencies hiring to give preference for student employment is summer/temp help for those aging out of foster care.
Comment by Notorious JMB Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 10:03 am
The vindictive attitude behind these changes is incredible. If this was really about saving money it might make a bit of sense.
But the big bill adds so much to the deficit that these changes are just a blip. Like they say, the cruelty is the point.
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 10:41 am
An unpopular opinion, the constant political move to increase programs and benefits to gain voters, without a long-term payment plan, is a big cause of many of these problems. Similar to Jim Thompson changing the pension to a compounded COLA, without the revenue needed to achieve that goal.
Would Trump cut even if all these programs hadn’t been expanded? Of course, it’s who he is.
Most Governments, including Illinois, increased their spending and added programs during COVID-19, with what was supposed to be one-time funding. There was no foresight or long-term plan if they wanted to keep it.
Everyone assumed Biden would be reelected and keep the money flowing. Then Harris would do that once she took the helm.
CTU is a perfect example of using the Covid dollars to create new line items and now they are screaming for money blaming everyone but themselves for not paying attention to what that money was really supposed to be used for.
Delia Ramirez passed a bill for healthcare for undocumented immigrants and claimed it would cost $5 million. Everyone went along with it. Then the GA doubled down and expanded it even more. Now they had to cut back and remove thousands from the roles.
Do you think anyone from the GA will look in the mirror and say they shouldn’t have done that, or do you think they’ll say if it wasn’t for Donald Trump, we’d still have those people on the rolls?
Comment by Frida's Boss Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 11:57 am
Right. It is all evil evil evil.
But wait…
If the bill failed, a family of 4 making $80,000 a year (hardly billionaires I think we would have to agree) would have paid more than $1600 in additional taxes.
1.5 million Illinoisans would have lost half their child tax credit.
And oh those pesky billionaires will now get significant deductions for tips and overtime.
And by increasing the SALT deduction all Illinois taxpayers stand to benefit when state taxes have to increase to pay for the grostesquely mismanaged public pension funds.
I wonder how Governor Pritzker missed all of that?
Comment by DougChicago Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 12:37 pm
===I wonder how Governor Pritzker missed all of that? ===
Prolly too focused on the carnage.
===state taxes have to increase to pay for the grostesquely mismanaged public pension funds.===
lol
The aughts called, they want their talking points back.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 1:01 pm
Consequences of one’s votes do not care about being called elitist. Democrats warned voters about this. But some thought they didn’t know how to talk to voters. If only they accused dark migrants of eating cats and dogs. /s
Comment by Grandson of Man Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 1:03 pm
===And by increasing the SALT deduction all Illinois taxpayers stand to benefit===
That’s untrue. You don’t benefit if take the standard deduction.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 1:05 pm
The changes to the student loan repayment options should be a larger concern for legislators. My loan service provider estimated that my payment will increase over $1,500/ month in 2026. They will have constituents who cannot afford whatever revenues ideas are floated and staff who cannot pay their bills on their current salaries. Calling it now.
Comment by Reality Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 1:06 pm
- in this blogosphere is essentially meaningless as they just exist to pay for endless programs. -
The days of the GOP pretending to be the party of fiscal responsibility are over. These cuts don’t come anywhere close to making up for the tax breaks and increased military/immigration budgets.
Comment by Excitable Boy Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 1:17 pm
==These cuts don’t come anywhere close to making up for the tax breaks and increased military/immigration budgets.==
Very true, the country has no fiscal hawks at this time. But defense spending benefits us all — safety flows to the billionaire and the pauper. And there has been a decades-long discussion on immigration and, at least for now, significantly increased enforcement is carrying the day.
Would you have preferred more cuts to social programs?
Comment by DougChicago Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 1:32 pm
The tax brackets will continue to be the same as they have been since 2017, they are not being cut.
A 2018 report issued by Chicago area Democrats found 500,000 households in the Chicago metro felt the pinch of the SALT cap.
The entire Democratic congressional delegation voted to remove salt caps
Both of our Senators introduced legislation to do the same
https://foster.house.gov/media/in-the-news/amid-salt-tax-standoff-heres-where-illinois-senators-stand-the-latest-dc-memo
Comment by Johnny B Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 1:34 pm
This bill is their effort to repeal the ACA through a thousand cuts. They learned to market the maneuver as going after waste, fraud and abuse rather than saying we are rolling back the ACA (which has proven to be popular). The abuse they cite is able bodied adults taking Medicaid from the people it was meant for (children, NH, disabled, elderly). They “conveniently” forget that ACA expanded Medicaid eligibility to low income able bodied so these folks are not abusing the system at all.
Comment by illinifan Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 1:42 pm
==The tax brackets will continue to be the same as they have been since 2017, they are not being cut.==
Without legislation on January 1 they were going back up automatically. Stopping that is a cut.
==500,000 households in the Chicago metro felt the pinch of the SALT cap==
What is a household on average? 3 or 4 people? that would mean 1.5 to 2 millions Illinoisans. But because they are part of a taxpaying household they don’t count as receiving any benefit.
Comment by DougChicago Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 1:43 pm
===Stopping that is a cut===
It’s basically a paperwork cut. /s
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 1:48 pm
Also @Doug, you could have extended the tax breaks without destroying the social safety net. Maybe by, oh, I don’t know, not extending the tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. And, oh by the way, guess who’s tax rates were set permanently? Those millionaires and billionaires. For the rest of us? Those rates expire.
Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 1:59 pm
I’d like it better if defense spending went to the actual people in the armed forces, who are many times also on food assistance, instead of big defense contracts.
I’d like the Pentagon to pass an audit without having missing millions or billons of dollars.
I’d like us to maybe just have the cost of a military only twice as large as China’s as opposed to 3 times.
@Doug - what do you mean by carrying the day?
Comment by BE Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 2:24 pm
==@Doug - what do you mean by carrying the day?==
There is currently an operative coalition that supports increased immigration enforcement. Is it a tidal wave of support? No. But in a significant way it elected (twice) a person President of the United States who would otherwise have had no shot. Will this last forever? Of course not — political coalitions are inherently fragile and often fleeting. But for now enough people want it that there was no question that it would be included.
Comment by DougChicago Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 2:43 pm
- safety flows to the billionaire and the pauper. -
What are you, 15?
- Would you have preferred more cuts to social programs? -
No, I’d prefer the tax breaks expired and the military and immigration budgets weren’t increased. Try not arguing like a child.
Comment by Excitable Boy Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 4:51 pm
The amount of Medicaid and SNAP cuts is almost to the dollar equal to the amount billionaires get in extended tax cuts. Conclusion you could have kept the tax cuts as they have been since 2017 for everyone making less than a billion, and only raised them back to pre 2017 rates for billionaires, and not cut a penny from SNAP and Medicaid.
Comment by Jeremy Rosen Thursday, Jul 10, 25 @ 10:09 pm