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Illinois Expanding Taxpayer-Funded Illegal Alien Healthcare Program

   DailyWire.com
As they begin their journey from Chicago for the Christmas holiday season, Reynaldo Hernandez hands his family's tickets to a Tornado Bus Co. employee, Dec. 17, 2021.
(Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

In a supposed effort to increase equity in healthcare, the state of Illinois is expanding a government-backed healthcare initiative to cover aging illegal aliens’ healthcare in a number of different areas including hospital visits, physical therapy, and prescription drugs, among other coverage.

The Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors program began in 2020 for those age 65 or older, regardless of immigration status.

Now, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services announced that the program will be available to those ages 55 to 64, including illegal aliens. Starting July 1, the program will be expanded even further to include individuals between the ages of 42 and 55.

“Implementing more equitable health care coverage across the state is central to (the) mission, which means increasing access to quality health care choices for all Illinois residents, regardless of their immigration status,” Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Theresa Eagleson told MyJournalCourier.com.

“Amid a pandemic that has disproportionately affected older adults and people of color, efforts to remove barriers and create a more equitable health care system are more important than ever,” she added.

The state agency is quite boastful that taxpayers will now be footing the bill for illegal immigrants.

Assistant Director Jenny Aguirre told the website, “Immigrant families face many challenges in their lives and to know that their loved one may now have access to health care services will give families hope for a better quality of life in the state they’ve chosen as their home.”

“Everyone deserves to have a healthier future,” Aguirre added.

The announcement comes as the state of Illinois is more than $166 billion in debt. Illinois was the first state in the country to create such a program, but New York recently crafted a similar program for elderly illegal immigrants.

The New York Post recently reported  that New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) recently signed a 2022-2023 budget that contains a provision that “allows up to 20,000 elderly residents living here illegally to apply for Medicaid, the public health insurance program for the needy that served more than 7 million residents during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.”

In New York, critics of that initiative have argued it will only encourage more illegal immigration.

“It’s a slippery slope. New York disincentivizes people from ever becoming citizens. New York blurs the distinction. We should not be rewarding people who are not following the rules,”  State Sen. George Borello told the Post.

In Illinois, residents must meet the following eligibility requirements to receive healthcare according to My Journal Courier:

  • Being between the ages of 55 and 64

  • Being an undocumented immigrant or a legal permanent resident of the United States for less than five years

  • Having an annual household income of $18,754 or less for one person or $25,268 or less for two people

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