The U.S. Senate recently voted to pass a bill that would cut more than $800 billion from Medicaid over the next ten years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. It would do this by putting limits on how states can raise revenue to pay for Medicaid, as well as creating burdensome and intrusive paperwork requirements to maintain eligibility. These cuts are even deeper and more harmful than those in the bill previously passed by the House of Representatives.
We want to be clear: despite the rhetoric from House and Senate Republicans that this bill would exempt people with disabilities from cuts, the limits they are placing on how states can pay for Medicaid guarantee that states will cut Medicaid services for people with disabilities. This includes our home and community-based services that keep us in our homes and out of nursing homes.
For many of us, Medicaid is absolutely a matter of life and death because it is the only program that can meet our needs. The changes that have been proposed harm those of us with disabilities, those who are older, or who have lower incomes. Family care support professionals, children, and direct care workers are also harmed.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the version of the bill passed by the Senate. Should the House make any changes to this bill, or should the House and the Senate create a conference committee to create a compromise version of the bill, then that would require the Senate to vote again, so we need to continue to reach out to our Representatives and Senators as consideration of this bill continues.
Please contact your members of Congress now and tell them to save Medicaid!