Illinois spent $1.6 billion on illegal immigrant healthcare programs, according to a new state audit.
“In 2020, Illinois began to expand healthcare coverage to noncitizen immigrants. The first expansion, the Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors program (HBIS), began in December 2020, and covered adult seniors 65 years of age and older,” the audit’s report says. “The second expansion began in May 2022 and covered immigrant adults between the ages of 55 and 64. The most recent expansion began in July 2022 and covered immigrant adults between the ages of 42 and 54.”
The two expansions are part of the Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults (HBIA) program.
“For fiscal years 2021, 2022, and 2023, the three largest costs were for outpatient services, inpatient hospital services, and pharmacy services. Beginning in FY24 with the conversion to managed care, capitation payments became the largest cost at $265 million,” the report explains. “Outpatient services ($145 million), inpatient hospital services ($94 million), and pharmacy services ($106.8 million) were the next highest costs. The total cost for the HBIS and HBIA programs since inception was just over $1.6 billion.”
The report notes that enrollment and costs exceeded program estimates. The HBIS program estimation was 6,700 enrollees. The total number was 15,831. HBIA’s program for those between the ages of 55-64 was 8,000 while the actual number was 17,024. The HBIA program’s enrollees for those between the ages of 42-54 was estimated to be 18,800. Its total number was more than 36,000.
Upon analyzing enrollment data, auditors found 394 enrollees who were involved in HBIS or HBIA after residing legally in the United States for more than 5 years. The audit explained that these individuals would be eligible for Medicaid, where “the State would receive federal matching dollars.”
Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran called the report’s findings a “gross management” of taxpayer dollars.
“We cannot afford this,” Curran said during a press conference. “The state of Illinois, state taxpayers, should not be burdened with providing free healthcare, especially for [the] working-age population. People that should be out and working in paying taxes and getting healthcare in the marketplace, just like every other Illinois state taxpayer is doing, so we want to bring the program to an end.”
