By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Media is reporting that hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans are about to lose their Medicaid coverage. They’re worried those Illinoisans will have to pay their way for medical expenses after years of coverage during the pandemic.
Medicaid enrollment jumped by 30 percent, to 3.8 million people during covid, but now federal pandemic rules that let people stay on Medicaid without having to prove eligibility are expiring. The Chicago Tribune reports that anywhere from 400,000 to 700,000 residents could end up removed from the program.
The drop in Medicaid enrollment should be considered good news. The number of Illinoisans employed has just now gotten back to pre-pandemic levels. Accordingly, the number of Illinoisans dependent on government should likewise drop. The goal shouldn’t be to permanently increase the number of government dependents.
There’s no reason for Medicaid to continue to cover nearly a third of Illinois’ population when most of the state is now employed. Today, unemployment is down to 4 percent compared to 18 percent at the height of covid. There will always be some people in need, but if the economy is much better, as Gov. Pritzker and others claim, then many people should be coming off Medicaid.
However, this is Illinois and enrollment increases in Medicaid are celebrated – and reductions lamented – by both politicians and the media.
What needs to be understood is that the number of Illinoisans dependent on Medicaid today has ballooned compared to 2000. Then, just 1.4 million people, or 11 percent of Illinois’ population, were on Medicaid. Today it’s 2.6 times higher at 3.8 million.
Even with a 400,000 decrease in enrollment, the number of Illinoisans on Medicaid will still be 400,000 higher than the state’s 3 million 2019 enrollment numbers.
The massive increase in Medicaid enrollment has come with ballooning expenses. All-in Medicaid costs (the sum of all local and federal dollars spent in Illinois) have grown from $5.1 billion in 2000 to over $25.5 billion in 2023, with nearly half of that increase occurring over the pandemic period (costs have nearly doubled from $13.7 billion in 2019).
Those ballooning expenditures are all the more reason for the number of Medicaid-dependent Illinoisans to finally come down. The costs are unsustainable.
But don’t count on it. Look for the political class to keep as many Illinoisans as possible on Medicaid. They measure their success by how many Illinoisans they add to government dependency. That’s wrong. Success should be measured by how many are lifted up and out of government dependency.
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A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
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Many progressive Americans simply think government money “grows on trees”, a sort of endless supply of federal and state and local agency funding for new and existing “free” benefits, whether provided by federal, state or local governments. These people think there’s a “big rock candy money” of government monies available to fulfill whatever perceived need arises. Illinois and Chicago politicians, and apparently their many progressive voter-constituents, believe each “newly-arriving migrant” should be priority for “freebie” subsidies. Now we provide a $15,000 housing voucher for new personal home, $225/day/migrant temporary housing, phone, meals, public transportation, all medical care including elective surgery,… Read more »
One less hook for the left leaning Democratic leaders. Or course they will fight, chanting (mediocre) government health care for all!
The machines probably really scared that if they cut off the Medicaid, poor folks will be hitten the exits in an avalanche, along with everyone else….which will look really bad come dem convention time.
No medicaid no problem. Just head to the nearest ER and get all the free health care you want…many even have Spanish interpreters availiable
My name is Taco Bell and I’m an illegal, will get you better care the Blue Cross Blue Shield.
WP forgot to add in an estimate of our new endless supply of public charges.
True – more freebies for illegals.