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.

Outside the DuPage County courthouse in Wheaton, 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 and Medicaid recipients themselves.

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

In 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 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.”

Stava-Murray said 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.”

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

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