Kane County Reporter

Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) is offended by the idea that taxpayers' money will be used to offer healthcare to noncitizens and urged a no vote on House Bill 4343.

"I'm very disappointed that the trust was lost in this and I would certainly urge on our side a no vote on this expansion when we told so many other groups that they couldn't get coverage and yet in turn we're going to expand this coverage for undocumented at the same time when other groups are being told no. So I'd urge a no on our side for multiple reasons," said Syverson from the Senate floor on April 9.

House Bill 4343 passed largely along party lines, with a 71-42 vote in the House and a 33-17 vote in the Senate on April 9. It was sent to the governor on April 20. Most Republicans had opposed the bill. "We had a bipartisan group for the last three months, getting up at 7 o'clock in the morning for these meetings with the agreement that all Medicaid expansions and increases were going to be working through this group," Syverson said, according to St. Louis Public Radio. "And then you turn around a couple hours after this agreement and you change the bill." 

Defending the process, Sen. Ann Gillespie (D-Arlington Heights) said, "We used this bill to add on the Medicaid omnibus, but it was never exclusively the Medicaid omnibus."

House Bill 4343 was sponsored by Democratic Reps. Greg Harris, Mary Flowers, Elizabeth Hernandez, Camille Lilly, Robyn Gabel, Bob Morgan, Delia Ramirez, Barbara Hernandez, Anna Moeller, Dagmara Avelar, Kathleen Willis, Margaret Croke, Terra Costa Howard, Maura Hirschauer, Janet Yang Rohr, Joyce Mason, Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz and Anne Stava-Murray in the House and Democratic Sens. Ann Gillespie, Mike Simmons, Jacqueline Collins, Sara Feigenholtz, Laura Fine, Karina Villa and Cristina Pacione-Zayes in the Senate.

House Bill 4343 amends the Medical Assistance Article of the Illinois Public Aid Code and allows the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to offer medical services to noncitizens who are between the age group of 42 and 54.