July 11, 2025

Durbin Calls Out Threats To Illinois' Safety Net Hospitals From Trump's Big Beautiful Bill

CHICAGO – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today joined health care leaders at Roseland Community Hospital on Chicago’s South Side to discuss the threats posed by President Trump’sOne Big Beautiful Bill. Roseland, along with other safety net hospitals in Illinois, faces potential closure due to Medicaid cuts included in the bill.

“Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill is the largest cut to health care and food assistance in history, slashing more than one trillion dollars from health care programs like Medicaid and $200 billion from SNAP. Millions of Americans will lose health care, including an estimated 330,000 Illinoisans, and have food taken off their tables, all to provide tax breaks for billionaires,” said Durbin. “Medicaid cuts will devastate safety net hospitals like Roseland Community Hospital and rural hospitals downstate. These hospitals are lifelines to the communities they serve, and many won’t survive cuts of this magnitude. But I will not give up fighting for Roseland and hospitals across Illinois.”

“There is nothing big or beautiful about the Trump Administration's bill that destroys Medicaid across the United States,” Roseland Community Hospital President & CEO Tim Egan said. “This blatant tax break for the Mega-MAGA rich has sounded a death knell in the Greater Roseland Community. Safety Net Hospitals are literally facing a Government firing squad while the ultra-rich prepare to add to their investment portfolios. The blood of our patients will be on the hands of every elected official who follows through with these proposed Medicaid cuts.”

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act slashes more than $1 trillion in Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, and Medicare funding, which will take health care coverage away from 17 million Americans to provide massive tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. Sixty-three percent of patients admitted to Roseland Community Hospital are covered by Medicaid, and fifty-one percent of the hospital’s revenue comes from Medicaid.

Earlier this week, Durbin spoke on the Senate floor about the negative impacts of this Republican bill.

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