The early days of the new Administration and Congress have been a whirlwind, with threats to programs and policies that people with disabilities rely on. This includes cuts to Medicaid (more on that below) and nominees to Federal agencies that themselves put programs and policies at risk. President Trump has heavily utilized executive orders (EO) to move his agenda, including an EO that paused Federal spending that had been authorized by Congress; this EO is currently on hold due to lawsuits filed by a number of states.
Advocates are also monitoring reports of a rumored future EO that would instruct the Secretary of Education to produce a plan to eliminate the agency. While eliminating the Department of Education would require Congressional action, the threat must be addressed for the over 7 million special education students in this country.
Those same students rely not only on Department of Education funding but also Medicaid funding for services for disabled students. Medicaid continues to be a major focus of advocates, as two different budget resolutions emerged in the last week from the House and Senate. Senate Republicans released their resolution late last week. House Republicans released their resolution this week. The reconciliation process only requires a simple majority to pass legislation and has been completed. So now these bills will get marked up in each chamber.
Both the Senate and House versions include instructions for the committees of jurisdiction over Medicaid (Senate Finance & House Energy and Commerce) to cut $1 billion in the Senate and $880 billion in the House. (The Senate number is lower because their intention is to do two bills). These numbers confirm our fears of potentially large and devastating cuts to Medicaid.
While the bill text is still being drafted, work requirements – a structural change to Medicaid that would mean cuts to the program – continue to be discussed. When work requirements were last contemplated in 2023, it was estimated that the bill would result in $109 billion in cuts owing to the work requirements. The need to remain vigilant to ANY cuts to the program remains, as Congress continues its work. The most important thing is for members of Congress to hear from those they represent, that MEDICAID MATTERS.
Congressional leaders have signaled plans to slash Medicaid in order to offset tax cuts for the rich – and they’re moving quickly.
These cuts would devastate over 80 million people, including 17 million older adults and individuals with disabilities, who rely on Medicaid for healthcare and essential home and community-based services, and students with disabilities.
Medicaid cuts would weaken the service system for people with disabilities, as millions of caregivers and home-based service providers are paid through Medicaid. Family caregivers, many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet, would face greater hardship.
These ideas come under many different names, per capita caps, block granting, work requirements, rollbacks of administrative gains. No matter the name, they are all cuts to Medicaid and should be opposed. There is no room for compromise—any cuts to Medicaid will cause harm, disproportionately impacting children, older adults, and people with disabilities.
We must act now.
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Visit TASH’s Action Center to find your Congress people and send them the message: don’t cut Medicaid! |
Take State Level Action to Protect 504
The last administration finalized sweeping rules to ensure that the protections of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, but the current administration is seeking to roll that back. A law suit was filed by 17 states, take action here to reach out to your state attorney generals to protect 504 protections.
More Information
Medicaid Work Requirement Resources
- From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Congressional district level estimates of the number of people who could be at risk of losing their coverage under Medicaid work requirements.
- From Community Catalyst, a helpful explainer video on work requirements.
Join the Protect Medicaid Space
- Join the Protect Medicaid Space listserv via this form! The Protect Medicaid Space brings together Medicaid advocates to have a space for sharing information, resources, and allowing collaboration. The Protect Medicaid Space includes groups that have cross-cutting tactics, including policy, grassroots mobilization, communications and messaging, storytelling, and the interplay of each. All Medicaid advocates are welcome!
Image credit: Romain Pontida, Creative Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic, some modifications.