Idalys Montijo has spent hours of her life doubled over with back pain so intense it would make her vomit.
The 57-year-old would rely on drugs and hot baths to spare her trips to the emergency room for care she already couldn’t afford, though the pain worsened her struggles with bipolar disorder — that was until she got insured through Medicaid more than a decade ago.
“Without these shots, I would be in pain forever,” Montijo told the Sun-Times Friday morning. “I was able to survive because with my [current] insurance, I got covered. … I would choose to die before I went through that pain again.”
She’s one of the more than 770,000 Illinois residents — and 78 million Americans — who could lose their health care coverage if Congress passes $880 million in Medicaid cuts.
Current Illinois law would automatically end Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansions in the state if federal funding is cut, significantly reducing who qualifies for the coverage. State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford has sponsored legislation to repeal the law, though the issue of funding the care would remain.
As part of a bid to avoid a government shutdown in two weeks, and after ruling out cuts to Medicare and Social Security, congressional Republicans have set their sights on a potential $880 billion in cuts from Medicaid over the next decade to help finance $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.
“If we don’t receive the funding, that’s a $7 billion deficit in Illinois alone,” Ford said Friday during a news conference with community activists, care providers and patients to bring attention to the issue and plead with Republicans in Congress to see the impact of the proposed cuts. “We have to fight to make sure the federal government and the Republicans protect Medicaid.”
Many of those in attendance argued cuts to Medicaid would hit the hardest for those most at risk, like Montijo or those who rely on Medicaid for more direct substance abuse care.
Cook County saw a more than 40% dropoff in opioid overdose deaths last year, the first time they’ve dropped since 2018 and further signs of progress after they peaked at 2,001 deaths in 2022. The decline is a result of years of evolving care and expanding programs, officials at the news conference said, but that it hangs in the balance along with the funding.
While programs like overdose prevention sites are largely funded by the state, officials have cited access to naloxone, an overdose prevention drug, in conjunction with increased outreach from community organizations, as one of the main reasons for the decrease in overdose deaths.
Medicaid increased access to naloxone more than any other state policy and accounted for nearly a quarter of the drug’s sales, according to a 2019 National Institutes of Health study.
Dr. Thomas Huggett, the medical director of Lawndale Christian Health Center, said the Medicaid expansion had allowed him to save lives and bring stability to patients who had struggled for years, many of them living on the street, through medications that decrease cravings and the chance of overdose.
“[Before], we didn’t have access to medications patients needed, many of them were uninsured and couldn’t get on Medicaid,” Huggett said. “It changed everything for those of us in Chicago to give our patients access to this medication. … Now they can move forward with housing, with jobs, with their lives.”
The care has gone so far as to set up routes for those who previously struggled with health issues to turn around and provide that care.
Mary Gonzalez, supervisor of community reintegration and support at Association House of Chicago, said her journey was from someone with “lived experience” — or anyone who has struggled with mental, physical or addiction-based disabilities — to being a social worker herself.
“If it weren’t for Medicaid back then, I wouldn’t be standing here,” Gonzalez said. “Medicaid saves lives, and I’m living proof.”
Her message for lawmakers looking at cuts: “Think about the lives you’re destroying and the people who will die because of your decisions.”