Lisa Schencker

Lisa Schencker is a Tribune business reporter covering health care. She writes about patients, hospitals, health insurers and pharmaceutical companies. Before joining the Tribune in 2016, she worked at Modern Healthcare and at daily newspapers across the country, including the Salt Lake Tribune for seven years.

A bill on guardianships will be up for consideration when the Illinois House of Representatives returns next week to the Capitol. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Tribune investigation into hospitals’ use of guardianship system inspires new bill

January 15, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

A Chicago Tribune investigation exposing some hospitals’ questionable use of the state’s guardianship system has inspired new legislation.

The Department of Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington, Oct. 10, 2025. Illinois nonprofit organizations reported receiving letters Tuesday night and Wednesday morning from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration saying their funding was terminated as of Jan. 13. (Michael A. McCoy/The New York Times)

Trump administration terminating nearly $6 million in grants for behavioral health, suicide prevention that went to Illinois agencies

January 15, 2026 at 10:03 a.m.

Illinois nonprofit organizations reported receiving letters from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration saying their funding was terminated as of Jan. 13.

AbbVie headquarters on the Abbott Labs campus in Abbott Park on Aug. 7, 2014.

AbbVie reaches deal with Trump administration on drug prices in exchange for tariff relief

January 13, 2026 at 4:56 p.m.

AbbVie reached a deal with the Trump administration on drug prices in exchange for being exempted from tariffs and future price mandates.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., joined by Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., speaks just after the House passed legislation that extends expired health care subsidies for those who get coverage through the Affordable Care Act, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 8, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Illinois extends Affordable Care Act open enrollment, as fate of subsidies remains uncertain

January 12, 2026 at 5:47 p.m.

Illinois will now give residents until Jan. 31 to choose health insurance plans on the state’s new Affordable Care Act exchange, at GetCoveredIllinois.gov. Previously, the open enrollment period was slated...

Daphne Williams, director of the Smarty Pants Early Learning Center, in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, reads to children on Jan. 7, 2026. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

Judge temporarily halts $10B federal funding freeze of child care, family assistance dollars

January 9, 2026 at 7:22 p.m.

A federal judge has temporarily halted the Trump administration's plans to withhold $10 billion in child care and family assistance funds from Illinois and four other states.

Child care providers and parents worry about federal freeze of $1B for Illinois. ‘It really helps these parents.’

January 8, 2026 at 9:55 a.m.

Child care professionals, parents, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and other local leaders expressed horror Wednesday after the federal government announced that it would freeze about $10 billion in funding for...

Federal government withholding $1 billion from Illinois meant for child care, family assistance

January 7, 2026 at 5:05 p.m.

The administration is also withholding funds meant for California, Colorado, Minnesota and New York.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital workers hold signs during a rally to call attention to emergency department staffing needs, among other concerns, across the street from the hospital, Jan. 6, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Northwestern Memorial Hospital workers demand better staffing, ahead of expansion vote

January 6, 2026 at 5:48 p.m.

A hospital workers’ union is calling on Northwestern Memorial Hospital to beef up its emergency department staffing, ahead of a scheduled state board vote next week on whether the hospital...

Lead medical assistant Yiseli Dominguez administers a flu vaccine to a patient at the Esperanza Health Centers Brighton Park North Clinic on Dec. 31, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Feds’ decision to recommend fewer vaccines for kids will have ‘no bearing’ on Illinois vaccine guidance, top health official says, amid flu surge

January 5, 2026 at 6:28 p.m.

The federal government's decision to dramatically reduce the number of vaccines it recommends for children came on the same day that Illinois announced that the state had moved to "very...

State agency says information of more than 670,000 Illinois residents publicly exposed

January 2, 2026 at 7:21 p.m.

The personal information of more than 670,000 Illinois residents may have been publicly accessible online for several years, the Illinois Department of Human Services said Friday.

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