Congress is considering a massive federal budget cut that would gut Medicaid by at least $800 billion over the next decade — a move that would devastate healthcare access, eliminate jobs, and destabilize hospitals across Illinois. These proposed cuts are not abstract numbers — they represent a direct threat to the 3.4 million Illinoisans who depend on Medicaid and to the hospitals that care for them every day. If enacted, this legislation would unravel our essential care infrastructure and endanger lives in every corner of the state.

Read the full article here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/opinion/medicaid-cuts-threaten-illinois-health-care-delivery-op-ed

Inside Marely’s hospital room, the mother massaged her baby’s feet and played with her hands. Marely’s dad Jose listened to her failing heart one last time with a stethoscope. Then, the mother took her turn.

“And I remember crying because I was like, ‘I carried this heart for nine months,’ ” Santos says. “We’ve been able to keep it alive for another six. But will we keep it alive for another day to get the transplant?”

Marely made it in time. Her mom calls her daughter’s new heart “Marely’s miracle.”

After the hospital, Marely spent another six months in transitional care before finally coming home in January. She’s now nearly 2 years old. A big reason she is able to live at home is because of Medicaid. The public health insurance program for low-income and disabled people covers the cost for medically fragile children dependent on technology. Similar care in a hospital or another facility would be far more expensive.

A study at Lurie showed that the cost for a group of children on ventilators who were delayed in returning home because they couldn’t get nursing care was about $180,000, on average, per patient while they waited.

Medicaid covers everything from Marely’s portable ventilator and feeding tube to a nurse trained in managing the breathing machine. This program is available to families who have private insurance, too, like Marely’s parents, because caring for medically fragile children at home is significant — Marely is eligible for at least $30,000 a month for nursing, for example — and private insurance often doesn’t fully cover these costs, if at all.

As the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate is set to vote on drastically slashing federal spending for Medicaid to help cover tax cuts, families, doctors and nurses worry about what could happen to children like Marely.

“There’s absolutely no way families can pay for the care that their children need to allow them to stay at home,” Knowles says. “You would have to be so immensely well off, and unfortunately most of our families aren’t.”

Read more here: https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2025/06/21/medicaid-toddler-heart-transplant-kassandra-santos-marely-chavarria-santos-lurie-childrens-hospital

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said the GOP’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will negatively affect the healthcare, and those receiving benefits at a Thursday afternoon press conference at the Peoria County Health Department.

Duckworth said the cuts in the bill will hurt those who receive Medicaid benefits, like the disabled, and other medical facilities and programs in rural communities.The bill proposes to create stricter requirements for Medicaid recipients and cut $50 billion in federal Medicaid spending on rural hospitals over the next decade. She said she believes this is happening because the GOP needs to find $4 trillion to fund tax cuts to the upper class for ten years.

Read the full article here: https://www.25newsnow.com/2025/06/19/democrat-sen-tammy-duckworth-says-gops-big-beautiful-bill-will-negatively-affect-healthcare/?outputType=amp

Activists protesting changes to Medicaid and SNAP benefits contained in President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” gathered outside Rep. Darin LaHood’s (R) Rockford office on Wednesday.

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_mUSlW8XaQ

Cuts to Medicaid and strict, “bureaucratic” work requirements to keep the insurance won’t just harm poor people — they will push the costs of health care higher nationwide, according to the head of one of Chicago’s largest groups of health clinics.

Read the full article here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/health-care/medicaid-cuts-would-drive-costs-nationwide-erie-family-ceo?utm_content=article7-headline&utm_source=morning-10&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20250606

Katrina Falkner knows what it’s like to be stuck in a Medicaid paperwork morass. The Chicago resident, who cares for her elderly father and other family members with disabilities, said she was disenrolled from the program in 2023 after the state Department of Human Services lost the paperwork that she had spent days organizing.

The agency told her that it reinstated her, she said. But when she went to the hospital, she found out she was still uninsured. It took several visits to multiple agency offices before the issue was resolved the following year.

The department told CNN that such scenarios are “extremely rare” and it works to “ensure timely review and enrollment” for all applicants eligible for Medicaid.

Falkner, 43, volunteers with several community organizing groups at least 20 hours a week and works every other Saturday as a Head Start ambassador for the Chicago Early Learning program. She also suffers from asthma, anemia, vertigo and other conditions, which can make it hard for her to work or volunteer at times. Being able to meet the reporting requirements concerns her, especially since her electricity and internet access are sometimes cut off.

“If I lost my Medicaid, it would cause me a whole lot of struggles,” she said, noting that the program covers her nebulizer and other health care needs. “If they don’t have the right documents, I won’t be able to be in existence because I can’t breathe.”

Read the full article: https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/31/politics/medicaid-cuts-work-requirements-gop-bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22, 2025

CHICAGO, IL — Today, just before sunrise, the U.S. House passed Donald Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” — a dangerous and deeply unpopular reconciliation package that would rip health coverage away from millions, gut Medicaid, slash ACA support, and drive up healthcare costs across the board. Illinois Republicans Mary Miller (IL-15), Darin LaHood (IL-16), and Mike Bost (IL-12) voted for this disastrous legislation, putting the interests of billionaires and big corporations over the health and economic security of their constituents.

Let’s be clear: this bill represents the single largest rollback of health coverage in U.S. history.

According to analysis from the Center for American Progress:

• In Illinois’ 12th District (Rep. Bost), over 43,000 people would lose coverage.
• In Illinois’ 15th District (Rep. Miller), nearly 44,000 people would lose coverage.
• In Illinois’ 16th District (Rep. LaHood), more than 52,000 people would lose coverage.

And that’s just the beginning. The bill would:

• Slash Medicaid funding by over $2.5 trillion nationwide, threatening access for children, seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families.
• Cut Medicare nearly $500 billion over the next decade.
• End ACA subsidies that help nearly 330,000 Illinoisans afford their coverage.
• Spike premiums and out-of-pocket costs for people who buy insurance on the individual market.
• Reduce benefits and force cuts to hospitals and rural clinics, especially in underserved communities.
• Impose harsh bureaucratic red tape that would kick people off their coverage simply because of paperwork errors.

Republicans jammed this bill through just ten days after it was introduced and made major changes just hours before the vote — without a single committee hearing or full analysis of the consequences. This bill will only become more toxic as Americans discover how much harm it will do to our health coverage, our healthcare, and our health costs.

No one campaigned on kicking millions off health insurance or gutting Medicaid, but that’s exactly what Reps. Miller, LaHood, and Bost just voted for.

This is not fiscal responsibility — it’s cruelty wrapped in a budget bill. It’s a direct attack on pregnant women, children, people with disabilities, veterans, and rural communities who rely on the very care this bill puts on the chopping block. Meanwhile, the ultra-wealthy and big corporations walk away with massive tax breaks.

Protect Our Care Illinois, together with our entire coalition, stands with the millions of families, patients, and providers across our state who are sounding the alarm. This fight isn’t over. We call on the Senate to reject this immoral bill and instead work on real solutions that expand coverage, lower costs, and strengthen care.

We will not forget this vote — and we will keep fighting to protect the care that Illinoisans count on every day.

Protect Our Care – Illinois is a statewide coalition of health care advocates, providers, and consumers joining together to protect and defend Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Protect Our Care – Illinois invites you to join Illinoisans across the state to defend access to quality affordable health care for all.

***

Media Contact:
Josh Schrader
402-860-0689
[email protected]
www.protectourcareil.org

n Illinois, more than one in five rural women of childbearing age rely on Medicaid for health coverage, according to the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and coverage could be in jeopardy as the program faces massive budget cuts in Congress.

Medicaid pays for half of all births across the state.

Kathy Waligora, deputy director of external affairs for the advocacy group Everthrive Illinois, said rural communities already face health care challenges, including hospitals closing or no longer offering maternity care. She emphasized any threats to the program would leave millions without health insurance and affect health outcomes for women and babies across the state.

Read the full article here: https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2025-05-21/rural/report-medicaid-cuts-risk-maternity-care-for-rural-illinois/a96882-1

“It’s breathtaking the scale of the cut,” said Carrie Chapman, deputy director of program and policy at the Legal Council for Health Justice, which provides legal services to low-income people in Illinois who need access to health care. “It’s certainly really concerning for the health and well-being of Illinoisans to be looking at a cut of this magnitude.”

Illinois Health and Hospital Association President and CEO AJ Wilhelmi said in a statement Thursday that the bill “will have devastating consequences for Illinois hospitals and their patients.”

Read the full article here: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/16/medicaid-cuts-illinois/

Mervin Dino, Assistant Commissioner at CDPH, speaks with POCIL leaders Anusha Thotakura, Executive Director at Citizen Action Illinois, and Timothy Jackson, Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy with AIDS Foundation of Chicago, about the current state of Medicaid and how advocates have joined forces through Protect Our Care Illinois to respond to proposed changes at the federal level. If you’re wondering if or why you should care about this discussion: You likely know or are someone who utilizes Medicaid, as it provides health coverage for millions of Americans and nearly 1 million Chicagoans. Changes to Medicaid could affect you or your loved ones, and this conversation is a starting point for what you should know and what you can do to get involved and help Chicagoans during this period.

Watch the conversation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdyj1_YgGYs