About “Protect Illinois Health Care”

Illinois’ health care system – especially its network of hospitals throughout the state – helps ensure that the best care possible is available to Illinoisans when needed. This is not an easy task in a state as diverse as Illinois. In addition, health care expenditures are vast. Medicine is changing rapidly, and the cost of updating medical equipment is astronomical. More than a quarter of a million people are employed by hospitals – with a total economic impact on Illinois of more than $75.1 billion a year - making them a vital major employer in addition to providing the most important social service of caring for the sick, the injured and the dying. The cost of health care is the cost of saving lives. Contact your legislators and tell them how your hospital does a great job of caring for you… and that you care about your hospital and its sustainability to care for its patients and community.

Overview: The Challenges Hospitals Face

Mounting numbers of uninsured. Increased Medicaid demands as more people lose their jobs. A difficult economy. A state with a continuing budget crisis. The opportunities and impacts of health care reform, in whatever form it finally takes. These are just some of the challenges Illinois hospitals face.

Hospitals are often taken for granted – until they’re needed. While both the state and federal governments are looking to slash budgets and make health care reform a reality, hospitals are struggling to bear the brunt of the economic downturn while keeping their doors open. Even before the current downturn, nearly one-third of Illinois hospitals were losing money on patient care. Hospitals have also been receiving substantially less than the cost of providing health care services for Medicaid and Medicare patients. 

Yet despite these difficulties, hospitals remain the cornerstones of their local communities, providing more than $4.6 billion in community benefits in their 2009-2010 fiscal year alone, including $561 million in charity care at cost. Hospitals continue to be major, stable employers and educators of tomorrow’s workforce. We need our hospitals to be strong. Contact your legislators and tell them know how you feel… today!