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* Hmm…
Receipts https://t.co/KFpOjc2VbD
— Daniel Crusius (@CrusiusDaniel) March 3, 2025
* On Friday, we posted two items here, one directly after the other. The first one was what the Pritzker administration had done to slash the costs of providing health insurance to undocumented immigrants (mostly by limiting and cutting or even eliminating enrollment). The second was entitled: “Pritzker: Cuts to Medicaid will be devastating to Illinois.”
Both arguments are based on the fact that Illinois cannot afford to provide this healthcare assistance on its own.
But… Your thoughts on this criticism?
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 9:37 am
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My thoughts? The author probably believes in magic beans
Comment by Joe Bidenopolous Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 9:45 am
My thought on the criticism is “I don’t care.”
I have no reason to care what the online left has to say about the decisions people in state executive positions have to make. They have demonstrated a total lack of apprehension as to how money and budgets work.
Why doesn’t the mayor generate the funds for undocumented healthcare? It’s apparently that easy, you just throw it in the budget and bam!, you got a new government program. Healthcare is super cheap in the US so it should be easy!
Comment by Larry Bowa Jr. Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 9:45 am
=Your thoughts on this criticism?
It is fair - don’t offer expensive new programs unless you know there is sufficient funding for it now and going forward.
Comment by Donnie Elgin Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 9:47 am
If you are a member of the far left, you probably think this is a Fair Hit. I don’t think anyone else would see it that way. Pritzer is a liberal, but he is also a businessman. He can also “read the room” pretty well, and he can see that this program likely doesn’t poll well, even among Dems. So technically the cuts are real, but politically and governmentally it’s the only decision JB could and should make.
Comment by James Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 9:49 am
In a world of scarcity, health care for people here illegally is a nice-to-have, not a must-have. The anger shouldn’t be toward Pritzker, but to those who insist that rich people get tax cuts and who refuse to deal with the messes of the US health care and immigration systems.
Comment by Formerly Unemployed Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 9:56 am
What Larry Bowa Jr. said +1
=It is fair - don’t offer expensive new programs+
When we could afford it JB offered. When he can’t, he cancelled. It is called fiscal responsibility.
Comment by JS Mill Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:18 am
“don’t offer expensive new programs unless you know there is sufficient funding for it now and going forward”
This comment is inane.
“Gov. JB Pritzker … 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, …”
There isn’t much Pritzker can do when the republican’t party willfully decimates the safety nets that the residents (legal and illegal) of this country rely.
Comment by Huh? Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:18 am
Wow, I actually agree with every comment here, especially this one: “In a world of scarcity, health care for people here illegally is a nice-to-have, not a must-have.”
Sorry to my friends on the uber-left. But Brandon Johnson is wrong. Fiscal management / fiscal responsibility is job one. JB knows this. Brandon does not. Billions of dollars can’t just be conjured up out of thin air. They have to come from somewhere and if we’re not going to raise taxes, we have to live within our means.
Comment by New Day Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:23 am
well, maybe they should not have offered the State program in the first place. but it’s a new program for a new problem, one that the far left has viewed incorrectly. Medicaid is national and longstanding. don’t view the Gov’s comments as inconsistent.
Comment by Amalia Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:28 am
The criticism is deserved. Equally, Pritzker needs to make the cuts equal to the Federal withdrawal. Mostly because it will hurt those who voted for the president (and party) who is making the cuts. The rural is already underserved but once they lose even more hospitals, it will be understood why things like Medicare and Medicaid are important.
Comment by Lurker Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:29 am
Larry Bowa Jr. and JS Mill + 1. Couldn’t have said it better.
Comment by Norseman Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:34 am
Most criticism around various healthcare policy choices are just versions of re-arranging deck chairs. The US healthcare system is by far the most expensive in the world, and one of the least effective among wealthy countries.
Comment by Homebody Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:35 am
If we had universal health care, this would be a fair hit.
We don’t have that. Which means we are forced to make choices which range from bad to less bad.
JB, quite wisely, clearly laid out the pathway for criticisms of funding awhile ago.
You want this? Great, what would you propose we take money away from in order to fund this? Or conversely, what new taxes would you support to fund this?
We could tax the wealthy more with a graduated income tax, but we don’t have that either. So the options available have already been narrowed down by circumstances, not choice.
Is this a fair hit? I don’t even think this is a hit. It’s certainly an attempt at one, but it is very superficial and without providing any alternatives or solutions it’s just generic online rabble-rabble.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:41 am
Changing your opinion based on new information shouldn’t be viewed as a negative for public officials but too often is. This program is no longer financially or politically viable. Anyone can see that.
Comment by Alton Sinkhole Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:43 am
The last thing on an undocumented immigrants mind is their health care coverage in an environment where they are being hunted and forcibly relocated to their country of origin. And when they return, they find the autocrat who they escaped from is now empowered, and in fact stronger, because the USA has now aligned itself with Russia and other autocrats. All because Progrssives and very left advocates were given control of the narrative and did things like create an unfunded health care program for non citizens, and add pronouns to email signatures and generally talk about unpopular policies and issues and lost an election.
Comment by Merica Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:49 am
Government can’t be all things to all people. Responsible leaders have to deal with scarcity of resources and create priorities.
There are far worse things being done right now to undocumented people than taking away their free medical care.
Folks on the far left really need to get out of their dorm rooms and stop attacking allies on their own side. There is SO MUCH to be outraged with what’s going on in this country, be smarter in what you are prioritizing.
Comment by Henry Francis Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:49 am
–
The rural is already underserved but once they lose even more hospitals, it will be understood
–
This is wishful thinking.
A lot of people have had no close experience with self-destructive personalities before. That might be how you make decisions and adjust to changing circumstances, but you have to take your own perspective out of this. Not everyone shares your same thought patterns.
There are people who will see the damage done to them, as their burden to proudly bare for the chance to hurt others even more. They will in fact push harder for more destruction, even knowing it will harm them. The view will still be that it is hurting people they don’t like even more.
In their entire existence of facts contradicting their worldview, suddenly they are going to understand and change their behavior because of this latest contradiction? Unfortunately, nope.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:51 am
What Larry Bowa, JS Mill and Alton Sinkhole said. The money isn’t there for this program. The blame falls squarely on those who voted against the graduated income tax and the Musky Trump health care cuts. Tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires are literally blood money at this point.
Comment by froganon Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:52 am
I think Dems worrying about what the far left says on Twitter is one of the issues we faced in the last election. When the Latino community shows up and votes for Democrats, then they can make these arguments. But instead they’re advocating for unpopular programs that are unpopular within their own community. And this comes after as Rich pointed out, they vastly underestimated how much this program would cost when they stuck it in the budget. Democrats believe in universal healthcare, that’s always been our position and the governor’s but you have to live within your means. If the GOP is successful 700k+ people will lose Medicaid because the state can’t afford to pay for it. Just like the state cannot afford to keep expanding undocumented healthcare costs. There is a reality to positions, we don’t live in unicorn rainbow land.
Comment by LOL Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:55 am
The issue is health care for the poor. JB objects when the GOP cuts it, even as he cuts it for a different group of poor residents. Absolutely no contradiction?
Comment by anon2 Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 10:58 am
== don’t offer expensive new programs unless you know there is sufficient funding for it now and going forward.==
Does this rationale apply to the new tax cuts?
Comment by Henry Francis Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 11:00 am
=Does this rationale apply to the new tax cuts?=
Ouch. Well played sir. I am betting there will be no response to that one.
Comment by JS Mill Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 11:10 am
Once again, Gov. Pritzker has responded to changes in material reality.
He’s remarkably consistent that way.
– MrJM
Comment by @misterjayem Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 11:19 am
== All because Progrssives and very left advocates were given control of the narrative and did things like create an unfunded health care program for non citizens, and add pronouns to email signatures and generally talk about unpopular policies and issues and lost an election.==
You must be one of the geniuses who believe the likes of Rahm Emanuel and Andrew Cuomo are equipped to lead Democrats out of the political wilderness.
Comment by charles in charge Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 11:23 am
It’s a nice try by Mr. Crusius but not comparing apples to apples.
It never ceases to amaze me how some advocates think there is an unlimited supply of money in state coffers.
Comment by Just Me 2 Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 11:29 am
Rahm Emanuel polled 3 times more popular than Brandon johnson,
at the depths of the Laquan McDonald murder investigation/controversy
Comment by Merica Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 11:32 am
Agree that Pritzker is taking the fiscally responsible course re: healthcare for undocumented people.
The real stuff will hit the fan when Congress cuts Medicaid to the bone everywhere. Real pain with result.
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 11:33 am
You could fill that funding gap with video poker revenue in Chicago, if you wanted to.
Comment by Give Us Barabbas Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 11:34 am
===Rahm Emanuel polled 3 times more popular than Brandon johnson,===
LOL
18 percent is not the argument you appear to think it is. It’s also not three times more than 6.6 percent.
He became fantastically unpopular.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 11:35 am
I would prefer to operate in a single payer/single provider environment.
The position of “we’re denying you healthcare because you’re a non-citizen, please wait outside until your condition deteriorates enough to require stabilization at the emergency room or you die.” is a bad policy position.
It was the default policy position of State before he decided to lead the charge to change it, and take a handful of victory laps for the change. It was expensive, his Administration was unprepared to competently administrate the program which made it even more expensive, and now he is walking it back.
This is a completely fair hit. The Governor made a choice, and that choice was to go back to “Please wait outside until you get sicker or die. Thank you.”
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 11:52 am
@theinvisibleman, well said and I agree. But just as people are saying we cannot afford to support the health care of those escaping to the US, I just think the same for the rural fanatics. Let them reap what they sow.
But yeah, this is going to be tough on the South, uneducated, farmer communities, poor, etc.
Comment by Lurker Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 11:53 am
There is a difference between making cuts based on ideology and having to make them as part of resource stewardship when the funding has been interfered with by an external agitator.
Comment by Give Us Barabbas Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 11:58 am
===Rahm Emanuel ===
Rahm Emanuel is like that ex that you’ve not seen for years and think back on some of the good times, some of the fun times and maybe forget why you broke up with them in the first place.
Rahm’s popularity bump is benefiting from the fact that he hasn’t been around and that he’s also not trying to be the Mayor of Chicago — a job that no one should want.
Rahm’s Bill Maher interview suggests he is also not thinking of running for Mayor of Chicago. At this point we’re more likely to see him throw his hat in for US Senate. Maybe he’s the leader we need to challenge Dick Durbin in a primary and he’s already staking out the position that Durbin is feckless in his ability to oppose the Trump Administration.
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 12:06 pm
=== Maybe he’s the leader we need to challenge===
Or maybe his brother can get him a sweet paying gig on the teevee.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 12:21 pm
It is a fair hit to the non-nuanced crowd.
As stated earlier, there is a massive difference between stopping a program for undocumented migrants that just started and cutting a program that has generational implications and has been funded by taxpayers’ direct-payroll deductions since 1967.
Removing a new program because of fiscal realities is not the same as removing a program that people have specifically paid into for their life to then have the rug pulled out from under them.
Comment by Frida's Boss Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 12:29 pm
Eh. This is an argument that if you do anything you have to do everything. If you help one person at all, you have to give everything to everyone else. I don’t really buy it.
Frankly I’d be fine if IL raised taxes to pay for this and other services. Even better if we had a progressive income tax so we could target those who can actually afford it. But if we have to draw the line somewhere, there will always be people asking to move the line. You could always give a little bit more.
Comment by Perrid Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 12:36 pm
===Or maybe his brother can get him a sweet paying gig on the teevee.===
I will pay-per-view to see Rahm’s UFC debut. I am sure I am not the only one that would tune in to see him get hit in the face.
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 12:46 pm
It’s a lot fairer of a hit than commenters here who suggest that because GOP is cutting fed funding now, it was wrong to get people healthcare for the last couple of years.
I think Pritzker has a lot of bad choices to select from given current federal conditions. But also understand the complaint that the loss of this program will ruin lives and health (and also the economy). As well as the complaint that JBP could be clearer that he in fact cannot entirely protect Medicaid because of Congress and the WH.
Comment by Stephanie Kollmann Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 12:58 pm
Yes, the funding for the program is real money, and this year times are harder than the last couple of years. But in a 55B general funds budget it is actually not an amount that cannot be found or met with modest new revenues. I don’t think it makes sense to attack the Gov, who has said recently that he favors everybody having coverage, which makes a lot of sense for reasons beyond health, including fiscal and economic. As we face a big hit to coverage from Congress and Trump, this is not a good time to be going backwards on coverage, but instead to at least hold the line and oppose the federal cuts with unity and a consistent position — no going backwards on coverage. The politics are tough because it is so easy to give in to Trump’s scapegoating and stereotyping of immigrants. Should be an interesting budget debate later this session, right at the same time as the expected vote in Congress.
Comment by Maywood Johnny Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 3:51 pm
I think if we taxed, say, 50% of Pritzker’s wealth we could afford a lot of healthcare for a lot of people…👀
Comment by Mike Gascoigne Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 5:03 pm
Ugh. I can’t stand it any more. I spent a boatload of time and money earning a master’s from the University of Chicago, where they made us learn economics and stuff.
So here’s the deal — all those people who got healthcare for the past x years are better off than they would have been without it. They are returning to baseline. I’m not delighted about it, but I think JB is not wrong to deal with a severe budget problem in this way. As Maywood says, this is a clear and consistent position.
Comment by Soccermom Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 5:58 pm
As a Democrat, I strongly encourage Mr. Crusius to traverse the state, loudly criticizing Democrats for fighting to protect Medicaid for elderly and disabled Americans and pregnant moms.
If you want to whack Pritzker for ending funding for working-age migrants, I am sure his political team would appreciate it.
I can argue its a fair hit:
- health care is a universal right
- public health benefits of containing infectious disease outweigh costs
- Untreated patients end up in the ER eventually, where we cannot refuse treatment, and we all end up paying a lot more any way
But any of these potentially “fair” hits is vastly outweighed by the simple fact that the vast majority of voters disagree with all of those arguments, making it a dumb hit. Not just because they are migrants, but that is certainly part of it. The American public long ago put working age adults at the back of the line.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, Mar 3, 25 @ 6:57 pm