(The Center Square) – Alleging the Trump administration wants to take health care away from people, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker this week signed a state budget that does just that.
Come July 1, the $55.2 billion fiscal year 2026 Illinois state budget removes the provision Pritzker had previously enacted to give state taxpayer subsidies to the health care of non-citizen adults. Pritzker said Illinois isn’t the only state discontinuing such programs.
“It was a program that had been growing significantly in cost,” Pritzker said. “I do believe that everybody should have health care. I also know that we have to live within our means.”
Despite the budget being the latest spending plan in state history, and costing $15 billion more than when he took office in 2019, Pritzker said they had to cut costs to balance the coming budget.
“So we’ve got to reign it in and make sure that we’re actually balancing the budget,” he said. “That was part of the decision that was made in regard to that program.”
Last year, Illinois taxpayers spent $330 million on the HBIA program. The Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors, covering non-citizens 65 and up, is budgeted for the coming fiscal year, at $140 million.
On the House floor before the budget vote, state Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, warned that the HBIS program won’t work either.
“This budget is acknowledgment that we [Republicans] were right about HBIA and we will be about HBIS,” Hauter said.
Both programs were found by a recent Illinois Auditor General report to cost Illinois taxpayers more than $1.6 billion in just three years. Aside from cost overruns, there were also internal reporting errors.
Hauter warned that if the state continues to use state taxpayer dollars to fund health care benefits for ineligible non-citizens, it is risking federal taxpayer funds.
“The people of Illinois deserve to hear if we are willing to risk the entire [Affordable Care Act] expansion program in defense of the HBIS program,” Hauter said.
The sponsor of the budget bill said any federal changes wouldn’t come until after the coming fiscal year.
A measure working through the U.S. Congress would reduce Medicaid dollars for states that cover non-citizen health care costs. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates the taxpayer impact for Illinois through the next nine years could be $10 billion.
