What To Do About the B (Ugly)B
What About the Recent Legislation — How Will It Impact Our Area?
The recently passed Big Ugly Bill (I can’t call it Beautiful) will adversely impact many residents of central Illinois, especially those who live in rural areas. One of the most onerous requirements under the bill is that many recipients of benefits must confirm their status of employment or qualifying disability every six months rather than once a year. For folks without a car or other reliable transportation, this is a huge burden. Another new requirement to be eligible for many of the benefits that people rely on is the work requirement - single people must work at least 20 hours a week to be eligible. But in states like Illinois with a $15/hour minimum wage, 20 hours a week of work will earn them too much money to be eligible for any benefits at all. A wicked catch-22 that there seems to be no way around.
Loss of SNAP benefits will mean more families experiencing food insecurity, more children going to school hungry, and more elderly folks having to make the heart-wrenching choice of buying either food or medicine.
Loss of Medicaid benefits will result in more people being institutionalized because of lost home care funds. People who are already in nursing homes may experience neglect (already a problem), because the bill allows nursing homes to employ fewer nurses and aides and still comply with the law.
So what can you do to help?
In the short term, here are a few things that individuals can or might do to help those impacted by the benefit cuts:
Help support local food pantries - a list will be posted here as soon as I find one.
Conduct or join a fund-raising campaign for the Community Health Care Clinic where many people without health insurance get treatment.
Organize within your church, neighborhood group, or just a collection of friends to offer rides to those without transportation who need to visit government office to fill out paperwork or apply for benefits.
Contact your legislators and let them know you are unhappy with the new requirements - call, write, email, or organize an in-person visit. Local organizations like the Alliance for Community Services are already planning legislative action - join them. Click the Helpful Links (on the right top of the home screen) to access a list of all Illinois legislators, along with their contact information.
Use your voice! Thanks to social media, every one of us has a network of people we reach on a regular basis. Use your Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky or other media account to tell the stories of those impacted by the bill and ask them to join you in letting your legislators know how you feel. Personal stories are a powerful tool to use to humanize the impacts of this legislation.