Illinois Catholic health and social service agencies have a major, positive impact on the quality of life for many citizens in Illinois.

• Forty-four Catholic hospitals, 22 nursing facilities and 26 other Catholic sponsored services organizations including hospice, home health, assisted living and senior housing provide care to over 9 million Illinoisans annually, many who are poor, underserved or uninsured.

• Our hospitals alone provided impatient care to over 2 million Medicare beneficiaries and 1.3 million Medicaid beneficiaries in 2014. In 2014, Medicare accounted for 31 percent of all patients served, while Medicaid accounted for 19.6 percent of all patients served. (Source: IDPH Annual Hospital Questionnaire.)

• Catholic nursing homes care for over 4,000 residents daily, many who are Medicaid or Dual Eligible residents. They provide 1.5 million days of care annually and employ over 5,000 employees.

• In 2014 Catholic Charities provided services to hundreds of thousands of individuals through over 200 programs for food, clothing, shelter, literacy, etc.

All of this was provided as Illinois Medicaid spending ranked 49th in the country for per-enrollee spending. Gov. Bruce Rauner's proposed cuts of $1.5 billion in Medicaid and other social programs will hinder our efforts to serve the neediest among us.

Just estimating for our Catholic hospitals alone, the aggregate Medicaid cuts would total over $200 million. To sustain this shortfall, over 3,000 jobs would be put at risk and the economic activity associated with these lost jobs would be a negative $480 million.

Because our faith and commitment are strong and constant, the state of Catholic health care and Catholic social service ministries in Illinois is strong and will remain strong. However, without the assistance and support of the state of Illinois, many of our neediest citizens, mostly children and the elderly, will bear the brunt of these draconian budget cuts.

Therefore, the ICHA Board of Directors strongly believes that Gov.Rauner and the Illinois General Assembly have the economic, budgetary and moral obligation to pass a budget that provides for strong, equitable health care and social services for its citizens who are most vulnerable and in need.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki is vice-president of the Illinois Catholic Health Association, a voluntary association of Catholic health and social service organizations, along with their religious sponsors and health systems. More than 95 percent of the Catholic hospitals, nursing homes, and social service agencies are members.