Insight Health Systems reached a deal last week to purchase both Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown and West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park after both shuttered following years of reported mismanagement and poor structural conditions.

Across two hospitals, 16 community health centers and Cook County Jail, Cook County Health aims to provide healthcare to patients, regardless of their ability to pay. But with federal policy changes looming, the health system’s budget is facing new challenges.

Oak Park’s West Suburban Medical Center and Uptown’s Weiss Hospital both closed this year following federal funding cuts and reports of poor infrastructure and working conditions.

Lawmakers said the owner of Weiss Memorial Hospital filed to appeal Medicaid funding cuts that led to the hospital’s closure last month.

Federal funding cuts and allegations of mismanagement prompted the closures of most operations at Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown, while Oak Park’s West Suburban Medical Center is facing a similar fate.

Saint Anthony Hospital has been a Chicago fixture on the Southwest Side for more than a century. Residents and local leaders say it’s time to upgrade the hospital facility but that they keep getting overlooked.

Many of Illinois' most vulnerable residents could be the hardest hit by the budget stalemate in Springfield. But last Thursday, a U.S. District Judge ensured that Cook County Medicaid recipients will not become victims of the political impasse.