An estimated 330,000 Illinois residents will be stripped of their Medicaid coverage following the July 4 passage of President Donald Trump’s budget bill, Gov. JB Pritzker’s Office said in a July 8 press release.
“Donald Trump sold out the American people, stripping away their healthcare and raising costs for working families in order to line the pockets of his wealthy friends,” Pritzker said in the release. “The widespread health and economic impacts of the largest cut to Medicaid in American history will be devastating for years to come. It will cost people their livelihoods, strain working families, shutter hospitals and slash reproductive healthcare.”
Here’s what we know.
Governor’s office predicts coverage loss, increased costs in Illinois
The controversial bill, dubbed the “big, beautiful bill” by Trump, proposes major changes to federal programs like Medicaid, the state-federal health program for low-income families and the disabled.
The July 8 press release from Pritzker’s office cited a statistic from Manatt Health, which claimed the bill would cause about 11% of Illinois’ current 3.4 million Medicaid enrollees to lose coverage over the next decade.
The governor’s office predicted the following impacts as well:
- Out of pocket expenses are expected to rise for Medicaid enrollees.
- Premiums for working families with ACA marketplace coverage will rise by 75%, causing them to pay an average of $1,032 more per year in premiums.
- Nine rural hospitals and 90 nursing homes in Illinois could face closure.
- 3.4 million Illinoisans are at risk of losing about $52 billion in Medicaid funding.
- New barriers to coverage will be enacted through work requirements, frequent redeterminations and repealing rules that simplify eligibility and renewal.
- Prohibiting federal Medicaid matching funds for family planning and other reproductive healthcare services provided by Planned Parenthood will gut reproductive healthcare.
The state says it is not in a position to backfill funding for these Medicaid cuts, but says Pritzker will attempt to mitigate impacts through medical relief programs, price reductions for prescription drugs and more.
How will legislation cut Medicaid coverage?
The law will require states to double eligibility checks to twice a year and set up systems to verify recipients’ employment or exemption statuses, USA TODAY reported. Health policy experts say these changes will add administrative costs and cut off people who qualify but fall through the cracks.
The legislation requires “able-bodied” Medicaid recipients without children 14 or younger to work 80 hours a month or qualify for an exemption. “Able-bodied” is defined in the law as those not medically certified as physically or mentally unfit for employment.
The legislation also strips coverage from undocumented immigrants who get Medicaid through state-funded programs.
Ken Alltucker, Rachel Barber, Jim Sergent and Janet Loehrke contributed to this article.

