A press release from State Senator Pam Althoff:

End of Session Review

Growing Medicaid in a Bankrupt State

The General Assembly voluntarily expanded Medicaid eligibility in Illinois this session as well. Senate Bill 26 will make almost 350,000 individuals newly eligible for Medicaid beginning on January 1, 2014. This is in addition to the 250,000 previously added to the rolls as a result of a Cook County waiver to implement the federal Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) early.

It was approved on purely partisan lines in the Senate, with no Republicans voting for it and all Democrats voting in favor, Althoff added.

The increase in eligibility was approved despite a previously approved bipartisan moratorium on all Medicaid expansions. Through a combination of factors, the total number of new persons likely to be added to the Medicaid system is estimated at about 850,000 once the Cook County numbers are included, along with persons who already qualify, but are unaware of their eligibility.

Few issues exemplify the differences between the parties better than the Medicaid expansions. While Democrats pointed with pride to the swelling Medicaid rolls, Republicans wondered how long the state can sustain a system that was already growing by over 130,000 people annually and already accounted for two out of every nine persons in the state.

Democrats were also lured by the promise of federal dollars, while Republicans reminded their colleagues that even as Washington promises funding, the program is neither free nor affordable in a state that teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. In addition, Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns that the Quinn administration has been slow to implement savings approved in 2012, which is likely to result in a bigger budget hole going into the next fiscal year.

The estimated cumulative cost of the expansion could exceed $2.9 billion by 2020.