Human service advocates say they are worried after Pritzker’s status-quo
budget proposal
[February 21, 2026]
By George Alexandrakis and Medill Illinois News Bureau
SPRINGFIELD — Lobbyists representing a coalition of health and human
service organizations across Illinois packed a room Wednesday in the
Illinois State Library to watch Gov. JB Pritzker’s annual budget address
and came away concerned.
The lead organizer for the event and executive director of Illinois
Partners for Human Service, Lauren Wright, said she was disappointed to
not hear any mention of health and human services from Pritzker, but
said she remained optimistic that the topic would be addressed in
further conversations. Pritzker’s proposal kicks off a budget
negotiating process in the General Assembly that usually concludes at
the end of May.
Pritzker’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 calls for a 1.6%
spending increase, a far cry from past years when base revenue sources
were growing at a faster pace.
Pritzker said his budget “levels off and in some cases reduces programs
that are important to me,”
“But I believe that the imperative of responsible governance and
overcoming the fiscal irresponsibility of past decades must come ahead
of the interest of any one politician, program or party,” he added.
At the health and human services coalition watch party across the
street, several attendees let out audible sighs at the line. Otherwise,
the participants frequently clapped and murmured in agreement as the
governor spoke, despite the speech falling short of addressing any
budget allocation to health and human services they were hoping for.
“I was hoping to hear that there would be marginal increases in support
for things that impact not only TASC, but our partner organizations,”
said Joel Johnson, the CEO of Treatment Alternatives for Safe
Communities, a nonprofit organization specializing in care coordination
for people with substance abuse issues and mental health disorders.
“Flat funding is not sustainable.”
The Illinois Partners for Human Services coalition has 850 partners and
is registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, according to their
website.
Amber Kirchhoff, senior vice president for public policy at Thresholds,
one of Illinois’ largest mental health providers, said that thin margins
would cause any stagnant funding to have a more severe effect than it
would otherwise.
“We have 1,200 employees and the cost of our employee health insurance
is tremendous,” she said. “Trying to manage all those costs while not
receiving increases in reimbursement that we get for delivering services
is increasingly difficult.”
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Lobbyists with a variety of health and human service organizations
across Illinois watch Gov. Pritzker’s annual budget address at the
Illinois State Library Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (Medill Illinois
News Bureau by George Alexandrakis)
Approximately 4,000 Thresholds clients could be affected by impending
Medicaid eligibility changes contained in President Donald Trump’s
recently passed domestic policy law, Kirchhoff said. The Illinois
Department of Healthcare and Family services has projected the state
could lose as much as $51 billion in total federal funding for Medicaid
over the next decade, with 300,000-500,000 residents losing coverage.
Medicaid covers approximately 3.4 million people.
Andrea Durbin, CEO of the Illinois Collaboration on Youth, said that she
was concerned about federal cuts to afterschool programs, which are
services her company has tried to strengthen.
Durbin added that after-school programs contribute to higher graduation
rates and noted the 15-year high graduation rate Pritzker touted in his
address.
“We’re contributing to that 15-year high,” she said.
Lawmakers will now spend the coming months negotiating a final spending
package before FY27 begins on July 1st. Members of the coalition said
they will try to push for increases to budget allocations for health and
human services in that time in hopes they can be included.
Pritzker addressed the threat of impending budget cuts in his budget
speech.
“So as we embark on this journey of maintaining our state’s now
re-established record of fiscal responsibility, I want to say to anyone
on either side of the aisle: If you want to talk about our FY 2027
budget, you must first demand the return of the money and resources this
president has taken from the people of Illinois,” he said.
George Alexandrakis is a graduate student in
journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of
Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, and is a
fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership
with Capitol News Illinois.
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state
government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is
funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R.
McCormick Foundation.alex
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