Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton met with a dozen administrators from southern Illinois healthcare systems. Her goal was learning how cuts to Medicaid from the recent passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act by congress will impact healthcare in rural parts of the state.
What she heard first were concerns that have confronted these hospitals for years. Some, even extending beyond the walls of the clinics and hospitals.
Don Robbins is the CEO of Massac Memorial Hospital lists some of the challenges his organization faces, "There are a lot of differentiating factors, I think, that really impact our patients here in this area. It might be transportation, geography, broadband connectivity, the lack thereof. And then, of course, the HB1 bill, potential Medicaid cuts, could be devastating."
He's concerned about the impact these recent cuts could have on the health of people throughout southern Illinois, "It's already hard when we have a patient that needs that next level of care that we can't provide in Metropolis. We're on the phone calling all these different hospitals. Do you have any beds available? And you know how often they say no? It's a lot because they're already full. If we went away, where are people going to get care at? They're going to have to go farther and farther away from home."
Hearing these concerns Stratton worries current economic conditions of the hospitals will be exacerbated reaching beyond healthcare, "The fact of the matter is, that means a hit to the local economy. It means people not being as healthy. It means some of our most vulnerable Illinoisans who won't have access to the care that they need. And that is unacceptable."
She says tackling these challenges cannot be solved only by legislation from Springfield - local communities should have a voice in possible solutions, "And that's what I heard today. They have ideas. They have real thoughts on the impact. And I think that we have to take those stories to the halls of the Illinois State Capitol and make sure that they are shared far and wide."
Until then Stratton says she's committed to working with Governor Pritzker to find a way for the state to fill the gap as much as possible.
