(The Center Square) – The fight over taxpayer subsidies for non-citizen migrant health care in Illinois continues as a new audit shows Illinois taxpayers’ costs ballooned beyond estimates.
An Illinois Auditor General report on Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors and Adults showed overall costs from 2021 to 2023 were up to 286% higher than estimated, totalling more than $897 million. There were also eligibility errors with poor internal controls.
On the House floor, state Rep. Amy Elik, R-Alton, said the audit shows Republican concerns were valid.
“It is not enough for us to say ‘I told you so,’ we must do better,” Elik said. “Now is the time and this is our opportunity to work for taxpayers, not promote fraud and overspending.”
Pushing for universal health care, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the audit didn’t tell the whole story.
“It may be their immigration status, it may be because they got a job that has health care coverage associated with it, but you expect them to move on and maybe they didn’t move on either because they didn’t know they could, should,” Pritzker said at an unrelated event in Chicago.
Amid other audit findings, the Auditor General’s office said it identified over 6,000 enrollees designated as “undocumented” who also had a Social Security number. Auditors also found 688 enrollees enrolled in the seniors program were not 65 years of age or above.
“These 688 exceptions were provided to [Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services] for comment. After HFS’s review of 151, it was determined that 79 were signed up in error,” the audit said. “Many of the errors occurred from incorrect birthdates provided by the enrollee, which were later corrected when documentation was provided.”
Since inception, the total HBIS and HBIA program has cost Illinois taxpayers more than $1.6 billion.
As the governor plans to cut taxpayer subsidies for immigrant adult health care in the upcoming budget, some legislators say they’ll fight to keep the program.
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights held a rally inside the capitol Wednesday. State Sen. Mike Simmons, D-Chicago, told the crowd the fight is on.
“I’m looking forward to fighting with my colleagues that’s standing right here behind me today to fully fund the immigrant services line, to get that increase that we want, to get that progressive revenue,” Simmons said.
Senate Minority Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said the audit released Wednesday on the non-citizen health care subsidies shows enough is enough, taxpayers can’t afford it.
“And to not run it properly and to have these large cost overruns, that’s how you end up with a budget deficit,” Curran said. “That’s what’s crowding out spending on education.”
Among the recommendations provided by auditors is for state agencies to review eligibility and remove any unnecessary duplicate enrollees “to ensure fraudulent or duplicate payments are not made on their behalf.”
