* 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.

Most everything related to Medicaid takes effect after the 2026 election, some long after. Planned Parenthood cuts are immediate, but a federal judge has issued a TRO.

* 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:

Discuss.