Social service concerns mount as federal changes take effect

The federal budget’s sweeping changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, including additional work requirements and shifting age bracket qualifications, could lead to nearly 20% of Illinois SNAP recipients – as many as 340,000 people – losing benefits in the coming months, according to state estimates and local agencies.

Adults from the ages of 18 to 64 (rather than 54) with dependents over the age of 14, or without dependents, will be required to work or volunteer in order to receive SNAP benefits. The previous age cap for dependents was 18 years. The increased challenges to access federal social security programs come as prices at the gas pump and supermarket keep climbing after U.S. military strikes and sanctions on Iran drove up oil and crop fertilizer costs.

While the changes began on Feb. 1, those not in compliance with the federal government’s requirements are allowed to receive benefits for “three months within a fixed three-year period,” according to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. “People who are not exempt from the work requirements, are not meeting the work requirements, and have already received three months of SNAP benefits will no longer be eligible to receive SNAP benefits for the remainder of the fixed three-year period,” though anyone can regain eligibility by proving one month’s worth of work, training or volunteer status.

Jorge Arteaga, Midwest advocacy manager for national nonprofit Young Invincibles, told Illinois Times that young adults who utilize social service programs from the federal government could see drastic differences in access soon.

“SNAP cuts are going to come down and probably be hitting in the next two to three months,” he said. “May, June (we) should be seeing a lot of impacts across young adults and people across our state and country, where they will be losing some of those benefits.”

Since SNAP is a federally funded but state-operated program, the increase in expected redeterminations could impact state dollars in multiple ways. The federal government has put increased pressure on how the state manages its SNAP error rate for determining eligible amounts of benefits.

“(Error rate requirements) are a way for our federal government to start putting a lot more of the financial burden onto our states when it comes to staffing individuals to ensure that our error rate can stay under the percentile that they would like to see it,” Arteaga said. “If we are not able to, there comes a cut in dollars that will be directed to our state. It will be either the option of: utilizing state dollars to beef up our systems and keeping the dollars that we are getting, or try to continue to administer our program the way that we have been doing but potentially lose out dollars from our federal government.”

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates Illinois would be on the hook for roughly $666 million if the error rates don’t improve. Illinois’s SNAP assistance for the 2025 calendar year totaled nearly $4.5 billion. Only four other states would be responsible for a larger cost if 2024 error rates held steady.

Kimberly Mercer-Schleider, director of the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities, an independent state agency that is federally funded, said the staffing required to comply with new regulations put a strain on the program instead of allowing the system to reach beneficiaries.

“We’re experiencing SNAP changes right now… the state will now have to increase our workforce to cover the new requirements, like increased redeterminations,” Mercer-Schleider told Illinois Times. “The way that the state is going to have to staff up for that would pay for the program, and that is the most frustrating thing … this is just for SNAP, we haven’t even gotten to Medicaid yet, that’s coming.”

She pointed out how lowering dependents’ age eligibility implies teenagers ought to purchase their own groceries.

“If I’m a mom and I have my son, we could both receive SNAP benefits up until the age of 18. Now it’s 14, so that automatically makes the assumption that my 14-year-old is going to be able to go out and work and make enough money that’s going to provide the groceries that we had before,” she said.

John Paschedag, a Cook County resident who participated in a recent press conference in Springfield, said he fears ripple effects from additional regulations might impact his ability to receive weekly care from direct support professionals he typically relies on.

“These cuts will be bad not just for me, but for many people. Many people would get hurt,” Paschedag said. “The disabilities community is tough. We have fought for many things that help us to live our lives, we will continue to fight.”

Barring last-minute congressional intervention, major Medicaid changes are coming in 2027, and with them, a forewarned cascade of change to the U.S. health care industry. The Affordable Care Act, or ACA, provides a separate avenue to health care for those who work jobs without insurance benefits or make too much money to qualify for Medicaid.

Arteaga said the expiration of federal tax credits that made ACA plans affordable will have a big impact on young adults.

“From a young adult perspective, it’s very concerning,” he said. “Many that are thinking about and hearing what’s happening in the news while very much considering what is going to happen to them when they do come off their parent’s insurance.”

Mercer-Schleider explained how, 16 years later, the ACA has become a lifeline for both patients and provider systems.

“It was the very first program that made health care accessible for everyone, and was it perfect? No, but also it’s an underpinning of our system that once that unravels, everything else kind of unravels with it,” she said.

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