Budget analysts both inside and outside state government ward that a multi-billion-dollar budget crisis will hit the state’s Medicaid program in the next few years unless state lawmakers and Governor JB Pritzker act to prevent it.
The crisis comes from changes in federal Medicaid policy that were enacted last year as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which, among many other things, slashes one of the main funding tools many states have used for four decades to fund their share of the cost of Medicaid.
The funding tools at issue are known as provider taxes, which are special taxes that states levy on hospitals, nursing homes, private insurance plans known as “managed care organizations,” and other kinds of health care providers.
