Lake County Gazette

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is facing stern pushback from a growing number of immigrants' rights groups after signing off on legislation to temporarily pause enrollment in the Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults program as of July 1.

Pritzker has moved to take full advantage of House Bill 1298, which enables him to place a cap on enrollees permitted in state-funded health care programs targeting low-income undocumented immigrants between the ages of 42 and 64 who would qualify for Medicaid benefits if not for their noncitizen status, a recent report from The State Journal-Register said.

When he signed the 2023-2024 state budget weeks ago, Pritzker stated that capping the number of program enrollees would help limit program spending to approximately $550 million.

“That's more than we expected, but not nearly as much as it might have cost if we didn't have the tools necessary (to limit program growth),” he said in the Journal-Register report.

Opponents including the Healthy Illinois Campaign, a group that pushes for health care equity for undocumented immigrants, said the legislation and its cap are “immoral and shortsighted” and could lead to individuals passing up treatment for diseases such as cancer and diabetes as well as other types of medical procedures, the report said.

The legislation does not make many changes to the Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors program, which focuses on undocumented immigrants who are over the age of 65, the report said. That program is open until enrollment hits 16,500 participants, when it will be put on pause. Data as of June 7 showed enrollment to be 14,594.

Pritzker has long defended the programs, maintaining that it is more cost-effective to offer preventive care to undocumented immigrants than forcing them to turn to emergency rooms for the treatment of undiagnosed conditions because they do not have health care coverage.

The Pritzker administration has described the changes as being needed to make sure “programs do not exceed the funds available and appropriated by the General Assembly.”