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The current budget the Democratic supermajority approved has
$550 million budgeted for taxpayers to cover the costs of
non-citizen health care. The Illinois Department of Healthcare
and Family Services projects the annual costs to be closer to
$773 million.
Friday, Pritzker said his administration is installing copays
for non-citizens as a way to save taxpayers money. Any further
changes to the program, he said, will be up to the legislature.
“Again, we’ve lived within the budget that was set for us and
now the question is what would the Legislature like to do going
forward,” Pritzker said. “So, we’ll be having those discussions
over the next several months.”
Along with the copays, Pritzker said taxpayer savings can also
come about with the option of non-citizens joining a managed
care organization.
“It saves money if we keep people out of emergency rooms and
keep people out of hospitals, it actually saves taxpayers money
and that’s what this program really does,” Pritzker said.
Senate Republicans have criticized the ongoing taxpayer costs,
saying they crowd out spending for other priorities. State Sen.
Don DeWitte, R-St. Charles, questioned whether copays save
taxpayers anything.
“So the fact that copays are in place that are going to save
taxpayers in this state money is absolute nonsense, it’s
disingenuous as hell and I think the governor owes the taxpayers
in this state an explanation of what they’re actually trying to
do,” DeWitte said.
Last week, DeWitte said the Joint Committee on Administrative
Rules was told non-citizens entering managed care organizations
is voluntary.
“But if they don’t enter enrollment into the managed care
organization, you know where they’re going? To the local
emergency room where they’re going to get charged carte blanche
rates and the state and the federal government are gonna be on
the hook to pay for it,” DeWitte said. “No copay.”
Legislators return Feb. 20. Pritzker delivers his proposed
budget Feb. 21.
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