Most Illinoisans in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will need to meet work requirements by December to keep their benefits, advocates told lawmakers Wednesday night.

Leslie Cully, the director of the Department of Human Services’ Division of Family and Community Services, told members of the Appropriations-Health and Human Services Committee that Illinois has not been subject to work requirements for decades due to a statewide waiver based on its unemployment rate.

But the federal tax and spending bill signed in July changed the metric where states could apply for the waiver, and Cully said no county in Illinois will qualify under the new rule.

Read the full article here: https://healthnewsillinois.com/2025/10/16/officials-say-work-requirements-to-begin-for-illinois-snap-recipients-in-december/

Kathy Waligora of Protect Our Care Illinois joined a town hall with Congressman Krisnamoorthi to answer questions about health care, especially related to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the need to extend the ACA’s health care tax credits.

Watch the town hall here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp3cg70Yobc

U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski said Thursday reopening the federal government will take a bipartisan agreement, but she drew “a red line in the sand” on health care, warning that some premiums could double next year if Affordable Care Act tax credits are not renewed as part of the package.

Kathy Waligora, of the coalition Protect Our Care Illinois, said the expiration of the tax credits would likely lead to higher uninsured rates, with younger adults more likely to drop coverage. This, in turn, would worsen the insurance risk pool and lead to even higher rates for those still in the marketplace.

“People are already trying to figure out how to make room for rent, child care, groceries and utilities,” Waligora said. “If these credits aren’t extended, many will have to decide whether they can afford health insurance at all.”

Read the full article here: https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/budzinski-urges-bipartisan-deal-to-end-shutdown-but-draws-red-line-on-health-care/

Healthcare professionals shared powerful stories of how these proposed cuts would devastate Illinois families—forcing patients to lose coverage, driving healthcare costs higher, and pushing rural hospitals and clinics to the brink of closure. They also called out how Republican leaders, instead of working to prevent a government shutdown, pushed a reckless agenda that would:

• Dramatically increase health care costs
• Cause millions of Americans to lose coverage
• Threaten rural health care providers across Southern Illinois
• Halt life-saving medical research into diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s

Watch the story here: https://www.kfvs12.com/video/2025/10/01/doctors-nurses-work-protect-medicaid-medicare/?link_id=3&can_id=364a371b974dbad771ba225080c5c3fe&source=email-holding-them-accountable-5&email_referrer=email_2917267&email_subject=watch-southern-illinoisans-respond-to-shutdown&&

Protect Our Care Illinois Urges the IL Congressional Delegation to Withhold Support for Any Funding Bill that Cuts Health and Food Access Programs

Illinois families cannot afford more attacks on their health and well-being. Protect Our Care Illinois urges every member of Illinois’ congressional delegation to withhold support for any funding bill that enacts additional cuts to healthcare or coverage for any Illinois families or fuels attacks on immigrant access to health care.

Further, we call on our congressional delegation to fight for a deal that makes the enhanced Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTCs) permanent and reverses the devastating health care and food access cuts in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (H.R. 1).

Enhanced APTCs have helped more than 20 million people — including more than 400,000 people in Illinois — afford health insurance, saving the average enrollee $700 annually. Without permanent action, premiums will more than double in 2026, leaving millions uninsured and forcing families to choose between coverage, food, and rent.

H.R. 1 slashed funding for Medicaid, Medicare, the Marketplace, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) while making  permanent tax breaks for large corporations and the wealthiest individuals. The Congressional Budget Office estimates 10 million people will lose health coverage under H.R. 1. In Illinois, these cuts will devastate maternal health, push rural hospitals closer to closure, increase health costs for all families, and eliminate health care jobs. It is impossible to rectify these cuts through State or philanthropic resources.

Illinoisans want Congress to lower health costs and protect care — not raise premiums, cut coverage, and undermine the wellbeing of our communities. Our delegation must deny their support for any funding bill that fails to protect the health and economic well-being of families across our state.

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve the U.S. Senate’s amended reconciliation bill, legislation that both chambers now support despite clear warnings from health advocates, economists, and community leaders.

This bill carries forward the deeply damaging policies already approved by the Senate on July 1, 2025. Senate Republicans doubled down on even deeper Medicaid cuts, further slashed SNAP and safety-net programs, and financed massive tax breaks for wealthy individuals and big corporations.

Key dangers of the bill for Illinois now backed by both chambers:

• Deeper Medicaid cuts threaten health care access for millions of children, seniors, and people with disabilities; experts warn this could result in at least 11–17 million Americans losing coverage
• 460,000 people in Illinois will lose health coverage and become uninsured under the passed Reconciliation bill
• This bill cuts Medicaid for the state of IL by an additional $5.6 billion, over the original House bill, which the Senate expanded on and today the House passed. (from FFY 2025 through FFY 2034)
• Increased health and social costs, including SNAP reductions and work requirements, will disproportionately hit low-income families.
• Unlike the original House bill which exempted all parents, the bill passed today requires parents of children over 14 to meet the work requirement.
• 257,000 Illinoisans will lose their health coverage due to Congress adding in a work requirement to Medicaid.

Today’s action is not merely procedural, it’s a choice. Republicans in Congress have made their priorities clear. The consequences will be devastating and long-lasting, and the American people are watching.

Advocates from Protect Our Care Illinois are driving a mobile, digital billboard through the 16th District, urging residents to call U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (IL-16) to express their disapproval of Medicaid cuts in the Trump-backed federal budget bill that passed the Senate Tuesday. According to the group, more than 24,000 people in Illinois’ 16th Congressional District will lose health care coverage under the bill’s current Medicaid cuts.

Citizen Action/Illinois Executive Director Anusha Thotakura called on LaHood to vote against the bill.

“Rep. LaHood has a choice: he can stand with the 139,000 people in his district who rely on Medicaid, or he can vote to take health care away from children, seniors, and people with disabilities. These cuts are cruel, shortsighted, and would devastate families and local hospitals, all to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. His constituents deserve to know what’s at stake and call on him to do the right thing.”

In March, the Protect Our Care Illinois hosted a virtual press conference, with constituents from U.S. Rep. Mike Bost (IL-12), Rep. Mary Miller (IL-15), and LaHood’s districts.

“When Congressman Bost voted to cut Medicaid, he didn’t just target a government program — he put real people in our community at risk. Over 192,900 people in this district rely on Medicaid to stay healthy, to stay working, and to keep their families stable. Cutting Medicaid is shortsighted and dangerous. I saw patients die for lack of care and I fear this becomes our reality,” said retired emergency room physician Dr. Kathy Wides, who lives in Bost’s district.

“As an ICU nurse, I know that when people skip preventive care, they are more likely to end up in my care — and by then, the damage is often too severe. Without Medicaid, more people will show up in our emergency rooms in crisis, and the costs of their care will skyrocket. This isn’t just a health care issue; it’s a financial one. Health conditions don’t discriminate between rural or urban, Democrat or Republican. I’m calling on my representative, Mary Miller, to hear the people who elected her and put them first, to protect Medicaid and reject these dangerous cuts,” said ICU Nurse Grace Kistner, who lives in Miller’s district.

The Senate’s amendments to the bill could be considered by the House as early as Wednesday.

A link to the billboard’s recording can be found HERE.

POCIL leaders joined Chicago Tonight to discuss how proposed cuts to the Medicaid and SNAP could affect Illinois communities.

Watch here: https://news.wttw.com/2025/07/02/chicago-tonight-black-voices-july-2-2025-full-show

From “catastrophe” to “nothing ‘beautiful,” Illinois Democrats on Tuesday slammed the Senate passage of President Donald Trump’s tax bill that would lead to 500,000 Illinoisans losing their health care coverage.

As the measure heads back to the House for approval, Democratic activists are now focusing their efforts on the three Republican members of the Illinois delegation, despite their allegiances to Trump: Reps. Mary Miller, Darin LaHood and Mike Bost. House leaders have said they still want to clear the measure by Trump’s self-imposed Fourth of July deadline.

And in LaHood’s 16th Congressional District, the group Protect Our Care Illinois traveled through his central Illinois district with mobile billboards that read, “Over 24,000 people in our community will lose health care coverage.” According to the group, 139,474 people in the district are enrolled in Medicaid and 29,012 residents rely on SNAP.

Read the full article here: https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2025/07/01/democrats-deride-senate-trump-activists-target-house-vote

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2025

CHICAGO, IL — Today the Senate pushed through a reconciliation bill that would do lasting harm to families across the country. Instead of rejecting the House’s deeply flawed legislation, the Senate doubled down — and made it worse.

The Senate’s version adds even deeper cuts to Medicaid, threatening care for millions of children, seniors, and people with disabilities. It strips away health coverage, raises costs, and undermines protections that Americans rely on — all to hand massive tax breaks to the wealthy and big corporations.

This bill doesn’t fix our healthcare system — it dismantles it. And it does so at a moment when people need more security, not less.

Now the bill heads back to the House. Every representative will have to decide whether they’re willing to back a plan that puts politics and profits ahead of people’s health. The stakes couldn’t be higher. 

Lawmakers must choose: stand with the families who depend on Medicaid, or cave to special interests demanding yet another tax break. The American people deserve better — and they’re watching. It’s time for Congress to reject this reckless legislation and start working on real solutions that protect care, lower costs, and put people first. Read More…