(January 25th, 2018, Chicago) — SEIU Healthcare Illinois launched radio ads in Chicago and East St. Louis media markets today following a full page ad in the Springfield Journal Register on January 23rd.

Radio Ad: Protect Roseland Hospital, South Side of Chicago

Radio Ad: Protect Touchette Regional Hospital, East St. Louis

Hospital workers are calling on Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration at the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) and the Illinois Health and Hospital Association (IHA) to protect funding for the state’s safety net hospitals that serve low-income and communities of color.
Right now, HFS and the Illinois Hospital Association are drafting a new Hospital Provider Assessment that distributes federal Medicaid dollars to hospitals. The IHA, which is drafting the measure, has actually added hundreds of millions of federal Medicaid dollars into the Hospital Provider Assessment.  But none of these new federal Medicaid dollars have been allocated to support and invest in safety-net hospitals.
Our communities are already struggling with poverty, joblessness, increased violence and a lack of access to healthcare which is why safety nets need more funding and resources, not less.
Many legislators, from both sides of the aisles, have publicly committed to protecting Illinois’ safety nets, as well as critical access hospitals that serve rural parts of Illinois. This is an encouraging sign of bipartisan cooperation.
It is urgent that Gov. Rauner’s Department of Healthcare and Family Services produce a fair and equitable hospital assessment that provides at least $50 million in increased funding to strengthen our safety nets and makes a substantial investment in our communities.