Letters to the Editor: Adcock's Pritzker comments shows she's ‘asleep,' not awake; Medicaid cuts won't save money, but will hurt a lot of people

Chicago Tribune

16-05-2025

House Republicans released a plan May 9 that would cause millions of poor Americans to lose Medicaid health coverage.
These cuts are being disguised as 'fiscal responsibility.' But let's call it what it is:
An attack on working families, people with disabilities, children, and anyone who dares to get sick or injured in this country.
Let's stop pretending this is about 'those people over there.' Medicaid isn't some charity program for a small group of others. One in four Americans relies on it. And that includes your neighbors, your coworkers, your aging parents, and — if life throws a curveball — you.
Cuts to Medicaid don't just hurt those who are covered by it. They strain the entire health care system. When hospitals lose reimbursement, services shrink. Wait times grow. Your own private insurance premiums rise to cover the gap. Fewer therapists, fewer home care workers, fewer mental health providers, more ERs closing — and then everybody (regardless of private insurance or wealth) feels the pain.
Many community health clinics, mental health centers and rural hospitals stay open because of Medicaid dollars. Cut that, and people in entire counties lose access to trauma care, emergency rooms and intensive care units. This is a life-or-death issue no matter where you live if you have a medical emergency while on the road.
Medicare does not cover long-term care, and private insurance rarely does as well. The average cost of nursing home care in Illinois is $8,000 a month. Medicaid is the primary payor for 63% of nursing home residents. If your aging parent, your partner or you need nursing home care then you'll want Medicaid to still be standing.
Medicaid cuts are a false economy. They don't save money. They just push problems downstream until they explode — on the streets, in overcrowded emergency rooms, and in your rising premiums.
Medicaid is not charity. It's infrastructure. It's emergency preparedness.Shannon Adcock, founder of Naperville-based Awake Illinois, which advocates for ethical governance, has been asleep at the wheel. In her May 11 letter to the editor, she condemns Gov. JB Pritzker and states he's no national leader for making what she considers reckless remarks that could promote disruption, incite unrest, foster intimidation and attack free speech, all of which are on prominent display by the current Trump administration. Republicans in general and President Trump specifically have lowered the bar for ethical governance and legality so much so that they trip over it every day.
Pritzker's claim that 'Republicans cannot know a moment of peace' is a call to push back against those actions. To characterize that as an attack on free speech is laughable. Ironically, the Republicans haven't had a moment's peace since Trump took over the GOP.
Pritzker's call for peaceful mass protests, mobilization and disruption are all legitimate ways for Americans to express their feelings on national issues and are, in fact, free speech, not threats to free speech or to fellow Americans, as expressed by Ms. Adcock. She is free to continue to express her divisive questionable rhetoric without fear of retribution for that same reason.
Pritzker is already a highly respected and popular national leader and I hope one of many more coming to address the real threat to our democracy, which is the contempt, hatred, prejudice and madness running unchecked through the country.