The 21st Show on Illinois Public Media hosts a panel discussion of Medicaid cuts and potential impacts on Illinoisians.

Listen to the recording: https://will.illinois.edu/player/audio/21stshow/can-medicaid-escape-republican-congressional-cuts

“Every time a baby is born in Louisiana, where Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson handily won reelection last year, there’s more than a 60% chance taxpayers will finance the birth through Medicaid.

In Republican Rep. David Valadao ’s central California district, 6 out of 10 people use Medicaid to pay for doctor visits and emergency room trips.

And one-third of the population is covered by Medicaid in GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s Alaska, one of the nation’s costliest corners for health care.

Each of these Republicans — and some of their conservative colleagues — lined up last week to defend Medicaid, in a departure from long-held GOP policies.”

Read the full article: https://news.wttw.com/2025/03/03/republicans-once-maligned-medicaid-now-some-see-program-too-big-touch

“Dozens of people and some organizations gathered in Normal on Monday asking Congressman Darin LaHood to protect Medicaid, Social Security, and SNAP programs.

Progressive interest organization Citizen Action Illinois held the press conference and rally in Uptown Normal.

With people across the nation fearing potential cuts to these programs, people at the event said they’re worried about the impacts the potential cuts could have, if they happen.

They claim 189,000 people in the 16th Congressional District could be at risk of losing access to these services, under the proposed republican budget plan.”

Read the full article: https://www.25newsnow.com/2025/02/25/progressive-group-calls-illinois-lawmaker-oppose-potential-healthcare-cuts/

“Bloomington-Normal citizens and leaders of local organizations gathered Monday afternoon in front of Congressman Darin LaHood’s Uptown Normal office to protest the Trump administration’s slash and burn approach to trimming federal expenses.

The protest was focused on health care and nutrition assistance provided through programs like Medicare and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program, or SNAP, as well as Social Security.”

Read the full article: https://www.wsiu.org/state-of-illinois/2025-02-24/protesters-call-on-lahood-to-oppose-trump-cuts-to-healthcare-food-assistance

“Beyond Tuesday’s Medicaid portal outage, Democrats fear there’s an even greater risk to the federal program that lower-income Illinoisans rely on for health care: a federal budget cut that could lead to more than 900,000 people losing coverage.

Republicans in Congress are discussing a plan to slash the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, which drastically increased enrollment for the program. The cut to Medicaid costs would lower costs for the federal government but increase the cost for states.”

Read the full article: https://www.nprillinois.org/illinois/2025-01-30/gop-plan-to-cut-medicaid-expansion-could-cost-coverage-for-900-000-illinoisans-democrats-say

Imagine being cut off from your prenatal doctor’s visits halfway through your pregnancy. Imagine having to choose between your child continuing therapy or buying groceries. Imagine forgoing a critical procedure to avoid out-of-pocket expenses that could become medical debt. These are the choices that millions of Americans will have to make if the Trump administration and congressional Republicans succeed in passing any Medicaid cuts.

Read the full article: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-forum-whats-ahead-medicaid/medicaid-cuts-would-hit-health-care-infrastructure-opinion

“Medicaid is in jeopardy because congressional Republicans have proposed to drastically cut the program and use the savings to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. As a result, we could soon lose the guarantees of health care coverage for over 3.5 million Illinoisans due to massive federal funding reductions and restrictions. We need to save Medicaid as an entitlement for the benefit of every resident of our state as it is the key to our health, our community, our health system and our economy.”

Read the full article: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-forum-whats-ahead-medicaid/medicaid-reforms-will-only-bring-pain-opinion

“Big cuts to the federal-state health care insurance program would bring financial pain for Illinois’ budget and the state’s 3.6 million Medicaid recipients.”

Read the full article: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-forum-whats-ahead-medicaid/medicaid-funding-cuts-could-hit-illinois-hard

Protect Our Care Illinois strongly condemns the Republican House Budget passed this week that calls for massive cuts in health coverage to pay for huge tax cuts for wealthy households and businesses. This budget betrays our values and would cause tragic health consequences for millions.  

President Trump made a specific pledge to not cut Medicaid, which provides health coverage for 72 million people. The House Republicans state that they only want to cut fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program and not cut actual benefits for “people who deserve them.” But the enormity of program cuts called for by the House budget are impossible to implement without deeply cutting Medicaid and devastating healthcare coverage for millions. 

While we should not despair, we need to act now and keep the pressure up to ensure that not one person loses health coverage to pay for tax cuts for the ultra wealthy. We need to make our voices heard and tell the Senate to reject the House cuts – both now – and if Congress ultimately moves ahead with a second budget plan and reconciliation bill this year.

The cost of extending tax cuts for households with incomes in the top 1 percent — $1.1 trillion through 2034 — equals roughly the same amount as the proposed potential cuts for health coverage under Medicaid and food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The House budget would require the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut at least $880 billion. The magnitude of these reductions would force congressional committees to make enormous cuts in Medicaid, SNAP, student loan assistance and other vital sources of support when they develop the “reconciliation” spending and tax bill that follows the budget resolution.

These cuts would increase costs, hardship, and poverty for individuals and families across the country. The specific proposals that House Republicans have been considering for weeks to make these program cuts are not just about curbing fraud and abuse, as they claim. Their proposals to cap federal funding, shift costs to states, or impose harsh work requirements that trip people up with red tape aimed at cutting health coverage and food assistance for honest people who need help, not reducing fraud.

Keep calling your elected officials and telling them that this budget cannot stand and that no cuts to Medicaid should be made. The thousands of calls we’ve made, the letters we’ve sent, and the rallies we’ve held were not in vain. We are hearing that Congress is getting more phone calls than ever before on a single issue and the Speaker of the House has said that he’s hearing from members angry about the Medicaid cuts and that he needs to find a solution to pass a bill that the Senate will agree to. Our efforts are working and we need to keep them going. The time is NOW!

Dial 866-426-2631 now to call your representatives in Congress, telling them that ANY cuts to the Medicaid program are unacceptable–click here for a script and other useful tips for calling Congress.