There has been a 725% increase in Medicaid payments for children without Social Security numbers since 2021 in Illinois according to a new report.

Illinois Republican statehouse candidate Bailey Templeton first discovered the drastic increase after conducting a review of public records, which revealed 1,085 children under 18 in Illinois did not have Social Security numbers and had $66 million in Medicaid bills.

Meanwhile in 2021, 450 undocumented children racked up $8 million in Medicaid bills, the Center Square first reported.

Templeton shared with Center Square that close $40 million in 2025 was spent on inpatient treatment, raising concerns for Templeton that his children might be victims of medical trafficking.

“It raises questions about what would be called medical trafficking, where things are conducted on to children when they're too young to be able to consent to these things,” Templeton told the Center Square.

Five years ago, inpatient hospital costs were at $1.9 million. Meanwhile, outpatient care went from $3.4 million in 2021 to $10.6 million in 2025.

“I think the taxpayers deserve answers 100%,” Templeton told the Center Square.

“We are paying for everything that is coming forth through this overpayment system, that's coming from your money, that should be going to you and your family directly.”

Templeton’s discovery comes at the heels of a Justice Department investigation into upwards of $9 billion in Medicaid fraud in Minnesota. The state has become ground zero for President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown with close to 3,000 federal agents deployed there.

The National News Desk reached out to the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services for comment, and had not heard back as of the time of publication.