Thousands of undocumented Illinois residents are in jeopardy of losing health care coverage from a pair of state programs.

The programs rolled out during the pandemic, providing benefits for immigrant adults and seniors. They offered health coverage for low-income individuals who did not qualify for Medicaid because of their immigration status.

The state says the programs face funding problems and new restrictions have been implemented. However, advocates are pushing back and urging state officials to continue to fully fund both programs.

Veronica Cisneros is enrolled in the Illinois Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults program. After losing her job and her health insurance, she found herself in need of care when doctors found a mass in her breast.

“That’s something that in the past I never would have imagined,” Cisneros said through a translator. “The coverage has helped me a lot. When they found the dense mass, I thought that it was cancer because I have family who died of cancer. For me that was devastating. When I was able to get the medical coverage, they did the exams and thank God it was not cancer.”

Ere Rendón, vice president of immigrant justice at The Resurrection Project, said that although redetermination is part of the process, imposing more restrictions takes away coverage from people who otherwise have no access to health care.

“I think it’s important that we remember that immigrants contribute, they have spending power over close to $60 billion in the state of Illinois and have paid 8.6 billion and local and state taxes year after year and have continued to be ineligible for most programs,” she said. “And just 0.6% of the budget is saving the lives of countless immigrants including people like my parents and people like Veronica.”