The controversial budget plan proposed by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan -- and supported by the entire Republican congressional delegation from Illinois -- threatens some of the most vital programs that keep the most vulnerable afloat. Health insurance, food stamps, and educational funding are all on the chopping block, according to a report examining the effects to the Prairie State by the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights’ “Poverty to Opportunity” blog.

Medicaid and Medicare are the top targets of the Republican-backed plan, which aims to change their funding sources dramatically. Citing Families USA findings, the Poverty to Opportunity blog writes that if Medicaid were to tie federal block grants to inflation per the proposed budget, Illinois would lose $27.6 billion by 2021. Currently, states pay 43 percent of Medicaid costs and the feds cover the other 57 percent, and that cut alone would have covered 350,000 seniors and 1.3 million children.

It wouldn’t be the first attack on the accessibility of food stamp benefits the state has seen this year, but the budget plan also seeks to cut $127 billion nationally over the next 10 years by lowering benefits and reducing eligibility. Illinois, then, would lose $4.9 billion between 2012 and 2021 in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that covers 1,879,000 local people. The program is fully funded by federal money, so it could also mean that the state would have to step in somehow so that this large group of people could continue to eat.

As for educational funding, Ryan and his fellow Republicans would slash funding at a time when students and teachers seek more resources. In the GOP budget plan, the blog said, funding for early childhood education would be cut by 20 percent, and in Illinois, would mean 9,000 fewer kids getting services and 2,000 fewer educators working. The plan also cuts Pell grants that over 200,000 students rely on state-wide, in combination with an already downward trend of federal money that’s forced schools to raise tuition to keep themselves afloat.