Illinois

Illinois lawmakers brace for possible federal cuts to Medicaid

Published

9 months ago

March 5, 2025

Illinois lawmakers brace for possible federal cuts to Medicaid

SPRINGFIELD — Health care advocates, hospital officials and people who rely on Medicaid for their medical coverage warned state lawmakers Wednesday of consequences that could result from proposed cuts in federal Medicaid funding.

The video in the player above is from a previous report.

“This is it. This is absolutely it. This is the line,” said Carrie Chapman, senior director of litigation and advocacy at Legal Council for Health Justice, a Chicago-based advocacy group. “Medicaid stays or goes as the program that we’ve know it right now.”

Chapman was among nearly a dozen people who spoke Wednesday to an Illinois House budget committee that oversees spending for human services, including Medicaid, the public health insurance program that covers about 3.4 million lower-income people in Illinois.

Established in 1965 alongside Medicare, the federally funded health insurance program for seniors, Medicaid has traditionally targeted lower-income pregnant women, children, seniors, parents, and people with disabilities. In Illinois, the federal government pays approximately 51% of the cost of covering those individuals’ care.

However, with passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, Medicaid eligibility was expanded to include working-age adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level. Approximately 770,000 people in that category are covered by Illinois Medicaid and the federal government pays 90% of the cost for that expansion group.

Currently, according to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, Medicaid pays for about half of all child births in Illinois and two-thirds of all nursing home days. Nearly 50% of Illinoisians living with HIV are covered by Medicaid, as well as almost 80% of people served by community mental health centers.

All told, according to the state comptroller’s office, Illinois spent about $36.9 billion on Medicaid in the fiscal year that ended June 30. Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Lizzie Whitehorn said about 62% of total state Medicaid spending comes from the federal government.

At issue was a budget resolution that recently passed the Republican-controlled U.S. House in Washington, which calls for deep cuts in federal spending. Part of that resolution calls on the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, to cut $880 billion from the federal budget deficit over the next 10 years.

Because Medicaid makes up a large part of all the programs the Energy and Commerce Committee oversees, many have assumed that cuts of that size would have to include substantial cuts to Medicaid.

“There’s no way they can cut that much out of the federal budget without touching Medicaid, because Medicaid is such a substantial portion of the discretionary funds that they have access to,” Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, who chairs the legislative appropriations committee, said after the hearing.

Whitehorn noted that the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act resulted in cutting the state’s uninsured rate in half and reducing the amount of uncompensated care delivered in Illinois by more than a third.

“Federal cuts would mean we have to limit services or eligibility,” she told the committee. “And we don’t have the money as a state to make up the difference.”

A.J. Wilhelmi, president and CEO of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, described the list of proposals being considered in Washington as “both sweeping and shocking.” He said they include turning federal Medicaid spending into a block grant to states, establishing per capita caps on Medicaid benefits, and eliminating certain funding mechanisms, known as provider taxes, that are used to draw down additional federal matching funds to support the cost of operating hospitals.

“And make no mistake, there would be no hospital Medicaid program without hospital provider taxes,” he said.

Last month, Gov. JB Pritzker laid out a $55.2 billion budget proposal to the Democratic-controlled General Assembly to fund state government operations over the 2026 fiscal year, which begins July 1. In his budget address, however, he noted the uncertainty of various streams of federal funds that are used to help pay the cost of many state operations, including Medicaid.

Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, who serves on the committee, said Wednesday that the decision about future federal Medicaid funding is in the hands of the Republican-controlled Congress. He urged GOP members of the General Assembly to use their influence to persuade the three Illinois Republicans in the U.S. House to vote against cutting Medicaid funding.

“So I’ll just close with my request to the minority spokesmen and the minority members of this committee to come back in a week to share with this entire committee those letters and those emails and those texts in discussion with us about the things they have done to make sure that the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and the president do not make these horrible, horrible, damaging, life-impacting cuts to our Medicaid system,” he said.

Republicans on the panel argued that the subject of federal budget negotiations was beyond the scope of the state legislative committee’s purview and suggested Wednesday’s hearing was more about partisan politics than solving the state’s budget issues.

“And so this, I think, is performative,” said Rep. William Hauter, R-Morton. “We don’t know what will happen. There’s a lot of things that we have no control over, budget negotiations going on at the national level.”

Moeller argued the hearing was more than a stage show, noting that Congress faces a March 14 deadline to pass a bill to renew federal spending authority or face a partial shutdown of the federal government.

“This hearing this morning is far more than performative,” she said. “We are going to be heading into our budget cycle, our budget making process, with huge uncertainty hanging over our heads. What happens on March 15, in the next few weeks, in Washington, D.C., will have a direct impact on the level of funding that we will have available for all of these important programs.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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Illinois

11 reasons Illinoisans can be thankful this year

Published

11 hours ago

November 27, 2025

Press Room

11 reasons Illinoisans can be thankful this year

This Thanksgiving, Illinoisans should give thanks for Illinois’ heritage, opportunities, wins against new taxes and educational freedom.

From Rockford to Carbondale, towns and cities across Illinois are creating opportunities, increasing liberty and decreasing the burden of taxes.

Here’s a look at 11 items worthy of gratitude.

Growing pride

1) Illinois grows more pumpkins than any other state.

Producing 85% of the world’s canned pumpkin, Illinois farmers produced about 485 million pounds of pumpkins. Illinois produced one-third of the nation’s pumpkins as Morton, Illinois, is dubbed the “pumpkin capitol of the world”

2) Illinois lawmakers end ban on nuclear energy

The state’s 40-year moratorium on large-scale plants has ended. Lifting the ban is a positive step towards competitiveness and reliability and a much-needed step toward energy independence and affordability.

3) Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed 5 bills to help fix Illinois education

Illinois lawmakers passed five education reforms focused on literacy, transparency and career pathways. Pritzker signed these bills into law, signaling a renewed effort by state lawmakers to improve student outcomes, empower parents, invest in literacy and diversify career pathways.

4) Chicago ordinance will remove college degree requirements for most city jobs.

Breaking down employment barriers for disadvantaged groups, new pathways to prosperity open. By endorsing a shift toward skills-based hiring, city leaders recognized some simple but powerful truths: a college degree isn’t the only path to career success and isn’t the only – or even the best – indicator of competency.

Decreasing tax burdens

5) Rockford cut property tax rate almost in half since 2017

The mayor’s office cut back on anything piling on unnecessary expenses, such as printing costs, centralizing printers and defaulting them to black and white. The city also re-bid routine contracts and merged back-office tasks.

6) Kane County, six townships and Bensenville vote “no” to more taxes

More than 75% of Kane County voters rejected a ballot question which would raise county taxes by 0.75% for public safety costs. Voters in Kane County, the six townships and Bensenville have loudly said “no” to tax increases. Taxes are too high, and local leaders who raise grocery taxes, gas taxes or property taxes do so without the consent of those who gave them power to govern.

7) Peoria Heights mayor vetoes grocery tax

“…I know we can and we will balance our budget without balancing it off the backs of families at the grocery checkout.”

Boosting housing affordability

8) Chicago and Lamont boost development, housing supply to address housing shortage

Chicago is expanding where accessory dwelling units can be built, cutting parking minimums near transit and converting ground floors of commercial spaces into residential units. Lombard allows smaller lots to lower cost.

Protecting against government overreach

9) Highly opposed “Homeschool Act” stalls on Illinois House floor

Lawmakers failed to advance a bill riddled with troubling provisions to limit families’ educational options and create government intrusion into families’ privacy

10) Pritzker signed 7 bills into law to make it easier to work

To reduce the number of government permission slips needed to earn a living, Pritzker signed seven bills into law that expand the ability of professional to work in Illinois. With the 38th-worst unemployment rate in the country, the state cannot afford barriers that block people from jobs they are qualified for.

Calling out corruption

11) Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was found guilty on 10 counts of bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud by a federal jury.

Madigan ruled the Illinois House for 36 years, building a political machine that controlled Springfield. The end of one man’s corruption is the start to increasing transparency and trust between lawmakers and constituents.

Illinois is taking steps to relieve the burden of corruption and high taxes. The commitment to pursue economic and educational freedom must prevail over partisan politicians working in their own self-interest.

Illinois still has its issues, but these 11 beams of hope show the state can be turned around.

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Illinois

Three Ways Iowa Can Beat Western Illinois

Published

1 day ago

November 26, 2025

Press Room

Three Ways Iowa Can Beat Western Illinois

Iowa center Ava Heiden (5) lays the ball up as Ashland guard Lexi Howe (10) defends Oct. 30, 2025 during an exhibition game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. / Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Taylor Stremlo — Iowa center Ava Heiden (5) lays the ball up as Ashland guard Lexi Howe (10) defends Oct. 30, 2025 during an exhibition game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. / Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Illinois

Illinois man exonerated of 1992 murder downstate after more than 30 years in prison

Published

2 days ago

November 25, 2025

Press Room

Illinois man exonerated of 1992 murder downstate after more than 30 years in prison

Danny Davis will be home for Thanksgiving, a dream for many, but for him, a goal three decades in the making after he was wrongfully convicted of murder in downstate Illinois.

Davis was just 20 years old in 1992 when he was coerced into confessing to a gruesome murder. It took more than 30 years to prove he didn’t do it, just in time for the holidays with his family.

Michael Jordan is Danny Davis’ favorite basketball player, and was still playing for the Bulls when Davis went to prison.

“I was in prison with their second championship,” Davis said.

That’s why he requested dinner at Michael Jordan’s Steak House on Monday night to celebrate his exoneration.

“I ate me a big steak,” Davis said.

In prison for more than three decades, Davis said he had learned to ignore the holidays.

“At one point, I just said all holidays are out, and focused on what needs to be done for me to get out,” he said.

Davis was convicted of the March 1992 murder of Mildred Smith, who was discovered stabbed to death in her apartment in Cairo at the far southern edge of Illinois.

“There’s nothing else to tie them. There’s no forensics tying them to the crime, no eyewitnesses, nothing like that,” said Davis’ attorney, Lauren Myerscough-Mueller, with the Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago Law School.

Myerscough-Mueller said Davis and his younger brother were coerced into a guilty plea.

“They said, ‘If you go to trial, Danny will get the death penalty, and he will die.’ So they were at jury selection, they pull him into a room, they threaten them with this, and so they say, ‘Okay, we’ll plead guilty,’” she said.

Davis was sentenced to life in prison without parole, but he and his legal team never stopped fighting. In 2018, Smith’s fingernail clippings were finally tested for DNA. The male DNA found did not match Davis.

His conviction was vacated and he was released from custody last year, but he was still a long way from truly free.

His case was expected to go back to trial next month, until – out of nowhere – prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the case altogether earlier this month.

“I knew we would be here at this point one day. We didn’t know how long,” Davis said. “Man, it’s just a blessing that I don’t have to go through that.

Now 53 years old, Davis spent more of his life behind bars than on the outside. On Tuesday, he got a special visit from three men who understand that better than anyone.

Jimmy Soto, Darien Harris, and Robert Johnson also spent years in prison for murders they did not commit. Between the four of them, Davis, Soto, Harris and Johnson spent more than 115 years behind bars before they were able to clear their names.

“They’ve lived the same things, they’re going through the same things, and can be a good support for each other,” Myerscough-Mueller said.

Davis said he said he’s ready to make up for lost time with his supportive family.

“Now I don’t take anything for granted in life; nothing,” he said. “I enjoy every bit of whatever that I’m able, the good Lord is able to give me the strength to do, I enjoy,” he said.

Davis’ attorney said the last step for them is the obtaining a certificate of innocence. They will file a court petition to get it.