The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which administers the program, announced the changes Friday after Pritzker signed into law a measure that granted the agency the authority to make changes to the program to rein in costs.
Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.Community members gather at Alivio Medical Center to urge the passing of the Healthy Illinois For All bill on May 16, 2023, in the Lower West Side neighborhood.
To close the deal on the state’s $50.4 billion budget, Pritzker struck a deal with the Democratic-controlled General Assembly that allocated $550 million for the program and gave his administration “tools” to control its cost. The second-term Democratic governor essentially agreed to assume the political liability for restricting access to the program after declaring a year ago that “everyone, regardless of documentation status, deserves access to holistic health care coverage.
“It doesn’t just affect Latinos — it affects all of Illinois,” Gonzalez, who voted in favor of the measure that gave the Pritzker administration the power to make changes to the program, said in a text message. “You would think after years in a global pandemic that the state would understand firsthand what lack of health care does to vulnerable populations.”
Advocates and some Democratic lawmakers pushed during the spring legislative session to further expand the program to cover those 19 and older, though legislators put that effort on hold as it became clear that there were concerns about whether the state could afford to fund the existing program at its current level.
The group pointed to remarks Pritzker made after signing the state budget earlier this month in which he said, “We save money when we invest in health care for undocumented immigrants.”Advertisement
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