Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and most Americans will be expressing what they are grateful for as they celebrate the holiday. We thought we would take this opportunity to express why we are so thankful for the Medicaid program in this country and what it means for people with disabilities. So here are some reasons why we are thankful for Medicaid:
- Nearly one in five Americans are covered by Medicaid and over 10 million Americans qualify for the Medicaid program because of their disability.
- One out of every three children receive health coverage through the Medicaid or CHIP program – over 35.7 million children across the country.
- 21% of the cost of substance use disorder services are covered by Medicaid.
- Medicaid covers many benefits that people with disabilities need, such as home health services, nursing facility services, early and periodic screening, diagnostic and treatment (EPSDT) services, prescription drug coverage and transportation to medical care.
Yesterday, we participated in a Twitter chat with Young Invincibles where we gave the reasons why we were thankful for healthcare coverage and thankful for Medicaid. If you’re interested in reviewing that conversation, you can check out the hashtags: #TodaysVoicesTues & #ThankfulForCoverage. You can also check out our blog post from yesterday on “Important Statistics on Disability and Healthcare Coverage”.
Tell us why you’re thankful for Medicaid by tweeting at us or sending us an email. If you want to help us get the word out on social media about how Medicaid helps people with disabilities, be sure to check out our Medicaid Social Media Toolkit which provides sample social media posts and divides them into areas highlighting Medicaid facts, impacted populations and benefits. Along with the sample posts are graphics and relevant hashtags which can be combined to promote the importance of the Medicaid program and how important it is for people with disabilities. The toolkit also provides lists of social media accounts to follow, digital materials and our news stories on Medicaid and Medicaid work requirements.