Please read and share stories like this. Writing in the Denver Post this week, Alyssa Roberts expressed concern about how severe cuts to Medicaid would affect her 19-year-old brother, who has physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities.
"Overlooked in the Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act is a drastic change to traditional Medicaid funding that threatens services for more than 10 million people with disabilities," she writes. "For decades, Medicaid has been their lifeline — providing everything from specialized therapies to support for daily living. Medicaid keeps people with disabilities out of institutions. It pays for caretakers so their parents can go to work. And it’s more efficient than private insurance."
Capping the federal share of Medicaid funding "leaves two options," she says. "Either shift costs to already stretched state budgets or cut services drastically." And those cuts will likely include "hearing aids, at-home care, physical therapy, and some people denied coverage altogether." Other likely consequences? Pay cuts for low-paid providers and more institutionalization when people can't access in-home care. Yeah, it's bad.
Read "Republicans' Plan for Medicaid Would Fail My Disabled Brother."
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