ADA TURNS 35, MEDICAID TURNS 60
July 26 marks 35 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) – more can be learned from the ADA Anniversary website. This landmark civil rights law stopped discrimination against people with disabilities in their jobs, schools, transportation, and all public/private places that are open to the public, ensuring that they have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. While this law changed many people with disabilities’ lives, it is only the foundation for disability rights – we still have a long way to go!
Many programs like Medicaid, which turns 60 on July 30, and the Marketplace benefit people with disabilities and with help from civil rights laws like the ADA; people with disabilities have accessible access to affordable healthcare. Read more from the Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law special issue on “Medicaid at 60.”
Even though 1 in 3 people with disabilities use Medicaid and have positive health outcomes from it, budget cuts from Congress will gut Medicaid by over $900 billion over the next 10 years, threatening progress made for disability health policy. Contact your state representatives and Medicaid agencies to let them know they need to protect and strengthen Medicaid!
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) put out an issue brief that looked at the Congressional Budget Office’s projected cuts will affect healthcare coverage, work requirements, and how states raise money for Medicaid. Some states could lose more than 20% of their funding, which could hurt healthcare for low-income people and rural communities.
The Commonwealth Fund’s blog noted that the budget reconciliation bill will also limit home equity for Medicare long-term care, delays in staffing rules, and more budget cuts that could lead to a decrease in healthcare and food assistance for people with disabilities. This is important to know because there are over 13 million people who are dual-eligible for Medicaid and Medicare, including many people with disabilities!
Georgetown University’s Center on Children and Families also noted in a report that marketplace rules will become more limited, like shorter enrollment periods, more paperwork, and the end to enhanced premium tax credits that made healthcare affordable for many people with disabilities.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) released a report on Medicaid work requirements – they could lead to around 5 million adults losing healthcare coverage, as well as up to 14 million people losing healthcare support.
CBPP also reviewed research on how Marketplace enrollees use enhanced premium tax credits to get affordable health coverage.
KFF put out an issue brief that found that health insurers selling plans on the marketplace are asking for big premium increases and are caused by increasing medical costs and the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits. This will make health coverage through the marketplace higher than it has been before.
The CHIRblog noted in their blog that the federal government has taken steps to make healthcare prices clearer and easier to understand. Hospitals and insurance companies will now have to show real prices for services and prescriptions in simple formats, so people can compare costs and make better choices.
The disability community utilizes Medicaid, and the ACA Marketplace plans at a higher rate than those without disabilities due to their unique needs. Due to this, the NDNRC wants to make sure that people with disabilities are aware of changes to their healthcare due to major funding cuts to federal healthcare programs.
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.
Archives of our weekly updates are available on the NDNRC website.