Tag Archives: Medicaid Matters

Action Alert, News

How to Improve Medicaid

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How to Improve Medicaid

Image emphasizes Medicaid people on Medicaid already cannot get enough support and suggestions to improve it.
Ways to improve Medicaid, end waiting lists and staff shortages! Increase civil rights!
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Doodles & text about improving medicaid. Title: How to improve medicaid (for those who “truly need it”).

Image: Man in wheelchair smacking his head. T-shirt reads, “Our homes not nursing homes”. He is saying “we already cannot get enough support to eat, bathe, dress, toilet, transportation, work, shop or be safe.”  Image: Shocked looking man, “You mean disabled folks don’t just get what they need?” A large question mark over his head.

Highlighted groups of texts. Increase funding! End waiting lists! Millions unserved & underserved! This group includes a doodle of a money bag and green arrow pointing up. Increase rates! End staffing shortage crisis! Improve quality! Side image of dollar signs getting larger with an arrow going up.  End institutional bias! Home & community based services (HCBS) must be mandatory! (not optional). Increase rights, protections, opportunities & accessibility!

At the bottom of the cartoon is a row of protest signs and hands. Signs read: Equal access! Disability rights are civil rights! Stop segregation! Implement Olmstead! End disability poverty! Community supports now! Cuts will kill! Real homes not group homes! The words “Talk with the people!” Appears over a cat. Colleen Tomko copyright 2025

When states get fewer dollars they have limited choices.

  1. Reduce Benefits
  2. Reduce Enrollees
  3. Take funds from other budget items
  4. Raise taxes

Medicaid is already underfunded and requires increased funding to meet the needs of people with disabilities and seniors. General cuts (Even when claiming to address specific issues) have historically been shown to reduce critical community services for people with disabilities, because they are optional and the easiest to reduce in state budgets.

For example: From 2010 to 2012, all states reduced HCBS program spending in response to Federal Medicaid cuts. All states reduced spending on Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), either by spending less per person or by reducing the number of beneficiaries receiving HCBS. In many states, waiting lists for HCBS grew substantially, and still exist today!

When states reduce Medicaid’s Home and Community Based Services, people lose essential supports to remain in thier own homes and community. This is in direct conflict with the Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead decision, which established that unjustified segregation of people with disabilities in institutions is a form of discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), creating civil liberties issue. Private insurance companies do not provide for community services or home care. Without Medicaid, everyone becomes susceptable to loss of their civil rights and being forced into institutional care when they have greater needs.

CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS!
(866) 473-5915

Let them know what Medicaid means to you, your families, friends and neighbors! Let them know how they can improve Medicaid!

Action Alert, News, Uncategorized

Who Are Medicaid Cuts Really For?

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Who are Medicaid Cuts Really For?

The House and Senate passed a concurrent budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2025 on April 10th. This resolution serves as a blueprint for the budget process and sets targets for congressional committees.  It calls for an $880 billion dollar reduction to the Energy and Commerce, which oversees Medicaid and Medicare.

The Energy and Commerce Committee advanced its portion of the reconciliation billon May14th.  It proposes reducing spending in the Medicaid program by $715 billion 2025-2034. It creates greater bureaucracy, red tape and ultimatily less funding for states.

The proposals advanced to the House and Budget Committee as part of a large bill that was voted don on Friday May 16th. There is another attempt to pass the bill,  if it passes it goes on to the rules committee. If the House passes a bill, it then goes to the Senate.

Who are Medicaid Cuts Really For? Man in suit answers woman in a wheelchaior. He sayd, we need cuts to be able to give more to those who "truly need" it. The women asks, so you're increasing funding to HCBS, Home and Community Based Services, so people with disabilities can live successfully in their communities? He answers, not exactly. She asks, Will there be more funding to end waiting lists and increase rates to address the stafffing shortage crisis? He answers no. Behind the man is an image of a paper scroll that says Bill, and then Big Beautiful bill with an asterick, And then and asterick and the words-Not for everyone. In front of the man are money bags with a tag saying To" the rich. Behind the women in the wheelchair is a mouse, about him the words, Not even a crumb?! Colleen Tomko Copyright 2025
Who are Medicaid Cuts Really For?

Tracking the Medicaid Provisions in the 2025 Reconciliation Bill

View a summary of the Medicaid provisions included in the legislation approved by the Energy and Commerce Committee compared to current law at KFF .

Federal Medicaid Cuts Would Force States To Eliminate Services for Disabled Adults, Older Adults, and Children

The reconciliation bill that passed out of committee in the House proposes cutting Medicaid and therefore gutting essential services upon which disabled and older people rely.  Read the full article at American Progress.

Advocacy Groups: Medicaid Cuts Would Adversely Impact Home-Community-Based Services

The National Alliance for Care at Home released a statement opposing the Medicaid reductions. “Although we recognize that leadership in the House and Senate have expressed support for preserving services to these populations, we do not believe that it is possible to reduce Federal Medicaid expenditures by hundreds of billions of dollars over a ten-year period without negatively impacting eligibility and access to care.” Read the full article at Hospice News.