Residents protest proposed cuts to Medicaid at DuPage County rally

About 60 area residents, many holding homemade signs, turned out Sunday afternoon for a rally organized by local lawmakers to ensure Medicaid would maintain its current coverage levels.

At the entrance to the Henry Hyde Judicial Office Facility in Wheaton on a chilly, but sunny Superbowl Sunday, State Rep. Diane Blair-Sherlock, State Rep. Anne Stava-Murray and Daniel Hebreard, president of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County spoke to the crowd along with several family members of individuals who receive Medicaid or are Medicaid recipients themselves.

“We need to fight fiction with facts,” Diane Blair-Sherlock told the crowd. “They are coming for Medicaid, they are coming for Medicare.”

In the State of Illinois more than 3 million individuals rely on Medicaid and an additional 800,000 are covered under the Medicaid Expansion Act, she said.

“One of the first things they are going after is Medicaid expansion,” Blair-Sherlock said.

She also warned that federal lawmakers may choose to lower reimbursement rates for providers.

“We already have a shortage of providers,” Blair-Sherlock said. “If we cut rates, we are going to lose providers, which will make it more difficult to get health care. Sadly, this will hit rural areas much more harshly than urban areas.”

“The billionaire class has chosen to go after the most vulnerable in society,” she said. “We are here to speak for them and fight for them.”

Stava-Murray said that she and her colleagues have been hard at work trying to shield Illinois families from the “insanity that has been coming out of Washington.”

“But there is only so much state legislatures can do,” she said. “However, with community engagement we can do so much more.”

Although the courts swiftly stepped in to restore “law and order,” Stava-Murray said, further attempts by the current federal administration to “overstep” their authority and “cut resources for those that need them the most” seem inevitable.

“Medicaid is different than other government services,” she said. “It exists for the sole purpose of lifting up and protecting the most vulnerable among us.”

But Elon Musk and President Donald Trump are not stopping at halting Medicaid, Stava-Murray said. “They are going after workplace safety, equal rights, education, charities, cancer research, veterans and the rule of law.”

“I don’t think there is any greater injustice putting our most vulnerable at risk by cutting their Medicaid,” Hebreard said.

Elgin resident James Gould, a former college professor who chairs the board of the Association of Individual Development, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with physical, developmental, intellectual and mental health, said about 80% of the agency’s funding comes from Medicaid.

“It would be devastating if there were cuts on any kind,” Gould said.

Gould’s son experienced a brain injury prior to his birth and now lives in a group home in Elgin and attends day training.

“This is his lifeline,” Gould said.

About 700,000 people are on a national waitlist to get into a group home nationwide, he said, “without any cuts.”

Naperville’s DeAnne Kerr attended the rally with her son, Aidan, 23, a Medicaid recipient who has cerebral palsy. Medicaid has been a “lifeline” and “safety net” for her son, Kerr told the crowd.

Thanks to Medicaid, Aidan can remain at home and has health providers come to his home, she said.

Through the Medicaid Home and Community Based Services waiver program, individuals can receive care at home or in a group home setting—avoiding institutionalization.

Many rally attendees said the waiver program is an important piece of the Medicaid puzzle because in addition to a cost-savings measure, it also prevents a disabled individual from being institutionalized.

“We need some safeguards in place to keep the president and current administration from overstepping their boundaries,” said Kerr, who lost her husband 14 months ago.

“The federal government needs to be the safety net for those who cannot do for themselves,” she said.

Attending the rally with her friends, Bridget Brown and Erika Kissel, Ashley Mcleod of Naperville told the crowd that she lost her parents and was going to be placed in an institution and “thanks to Medicaid, now I am safe.”

McLeod now lives in a group home and has created a cookbook—”Just A Dollop.”

Similarly, Brown and Kissel balance different work opportunities that include advocacy work, television and theatre appearances and working in food service.

Erika’s mom, Anna Kissel of Naperville said Medicaid allows the women to live in their community. Otherwise, they would be at risk of being institutionalized.

“The cost of an institution per year is versus home-based care that is the fraction of the cost,” she added.

Since the trio of women work, Kissel said, they also pay taxes.

Holding a sign outlining the hypocrisy of government subsidies for Telsa and Space X while Musk tries to cut funding for programs like Medicaid, Elmhurst’s Teri Litavsky, a mother of five including a 39-year-old daughter who has an intellectual disability and lives at home.

“She will not get by without Medicaid programs--our family relies on it,” Litavsky said.

“We all have been holding our breath, hoping that President Trump did not mean all the things he said, but he does,” Litavsky said. “This is cruelty to American citizens. It is cruelty to our most vulnerable population. These are children, these are people with disabilities, and they need our help.”

Barbara Hollow of Elmhurst, who attended the event to support Litavsky said, “I also want to keep Medicare.”

Hollow, who has supplemental health insurance in addition to Medicare said, she is lucky to have the additional coverage, but “not everyone does.”