MEDICAID AND ACA UPDATES
The NDNRC wants to make sure that people with disabilities are aware of potential changes to their healthcare with the new administration taking office. The disability community utilizes Medicaid, and the ACA (Affordable Care Act) Marketplace plans at a higher rate than those without disabilities due to their unique needs.
By updating this newsletter with resources and educational pieces on where disability health policies stand, we hope to ensure that the disability community continues to have access to accessible and affordable healthcare coverage no matter what changes occur in the foreseeable future.
Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families released a blog covering how the House Energy and Commerce Committee will cut hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid funding. This change could lead to 8.6 million people losing their healthcare coverage, specifically low-income people, families, and people with disabilities.
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has created a tracker that is following Medicaid provisions in the 2025 Reconciliation Bill. Ways to cut costs in Medicaid include work requirements and more review to see who is eligible for coverage. This will cause people to lose coverage, as additional paperwork and constant tracking will lead to a decrease in enrollment.
More Medicaid will increase errors and cause people to lose coverage, as noted by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities’ blog. Making people renew their Medicaid more often could cause many to lose their health insurance, even if they still qualify. This is because more frequent renewals can lead to mistakes, like missing paperwork or confusing steps, which can result in people being dropped from the program, especially people with disabilities.
The CHIRblog has a series on stakeholder perspectives, one piece on state insurance departments, another piece on health care providers, and a final piece on health insurers and brokers, on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Proposed “Marketplace Integrity” Rule. Here is a breakdown:
- State insurance departments: worried that it would make it harder and more costly to manage coverage and may cause some people, like those in the disability community, to lose their health insurance.
- Health care providers: worried that this rule could cause many people, especially those with low incomes, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, or needing gender-affirming care, to lose health insurance and make it harder to get needed care.
- Health insurers and brokers: worried the new rule will confuse people, make it harder to get or keep insurance, and add extra work for states.
CBPP covered in a research article how the new bill from the House will require adults on Medicaid to work at least 80 hours per month or they will lose their health insurance. This could cause millions of people, especially those in Medicaid expansion groups, like people with disabilities, to lose coverage due to confusing rules and paperwork.
An example of how these work requirements cause more harm than good can be found in Michigan, as over 100,000 people have lost Medicaid coverage under work requirements, as noted in a blog from The Commonwealth Fund.
Archives of our weekly updates are available on the NDNRC website.