CHICAGO (WLS) — Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration plans to make restoring food assistance and healthcare benefits a top priority when the new Congress is sworn in, according to state officials who say recent federal policy changes have affected Illinois residents who rely on those programs.
Grace Hou, Illinois’ deputy governor of health and human services, said the governor’s office will urge lawmakers to reverse provisions in President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that affect recipients of Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
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“The governor released a set of proposals that we are hoping on day one that Congress takes and brings it into action,” Hou said.
Hou said more than 120,000 people in Illinois have already lost SNAP benefits because of the law.
“It makes it harder for people to be eligible and stay on the SNAP program, which essentially puts food on the table for people struggling. And the second is all the changes to the Medicaid program, which creates more bureaucracy and red tape for individuals looking to stay on Medicaid, which is health insurance,” Hou said.
Hou said Medicaid cutbacks that took effect in October have already caused close to 10,000 people to lose health coverage.
She said additional restrictions are scheduled to begin in January.
The White House defended the administration’s approach.
In a statement to the ABC7 Chicago I-Team, a spokesperson said, “President Trump’s whole-of-government approach to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, and allocate funding to the programs and people that truly need it has brought down costs significantly.”
The White House also said: “Rather than throwing money at a broken system designed to be taken advantage of as J.B. Pritzker has suggested, the Trump Administration will continue to stop criminal fraudsters from stealing from these important programs, as well as take effective, cost-saving steps to make life more affordable for Americans.”
Hou disputed that assessment, saying the policy changes have made life more difficult for vulnerable residents.
“We’re talking about children; we are talking about the elderly, who are on a day-to-day basically wondering where their meals are going to come from,” Hou said.
The White House also said the Trump administration recently finalized new Medicare policies aimed at lowering healthcare costs for seniors on prescription drugs and services such as bone density scans and X-rays.
Pritzker’s office argues that changes affecting Medicaid and SNAP should be reversed and said it hopes the issue can attract bipartisan support in Congress.
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Source: abc7chicago.com
