DECATUR - State Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth, thinks it's time for the state to stop providing health insurance to the children of illegal immigrants.

Mitchell said during a news conference Wednesday outside the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services office in Decatur that he plans to introduce legislation barring those children from enrollment in state Medicaid programs.

"We're subsidizing illegal immigration," Mitchell said. "We're putting out a welcome mat."

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has made expanding health care coverage through his All Kids program the focus of much of his time in office, but Mitchell and others voted against it because they considered it too expensive and questioned how the program would be administered.

Although federal matching money is available to pay for some Medicaid assistance offered by the state, Illinois taxpayers must pay 100 percent of the costs associated with providing health care to illegal immigrants.

Mitchell said he was prompted to draft the new legislation after reading about an event in Chicago over the weekend where the state offered $50 gas cards to 1,000 new enrollees in the All Kids program.

He said the state simply can't afford to continue providing health insurance to illegal immigrants at a time the state owes more than $1 billion in unpaid bills to doctors and hospitals and faces a budget for next year that contains a $2 billion deficit.

State Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion, said he also was concerned about the event over the weekend because he said he didn't approve of taxpayer money dedicated for health care being spent on gas cards, especially during tough budget times.

Flider, who voted in favor of All Kids, said he shares Mitchell's sentiment about wanting to reserve public assistance programs for Illinois citizens but wouldn't support taking away insurance from people if it would put their health in jeopardy.

Statistics released by the state Wednesday estimated 4 percent of the 1.4 million children enrolled in All Kids, or about 56,000, are undocumented immigrants.

"We have not yet seen this legislation and, therefore, cannot comment on it," said Annie Thompson, a spokeswoman for family services.

But Thompson added that the governor's policy of providing health care to all Illinois children is designed to promote the well-being of children who are able to better concentrate in school when healthy and is intended to diagnose and provide care for health problems before they become more serious and expensive to treat.

Mary Tallon can be reached at mtallon@herald-review.com or 421-7984.