The cuts to Medicaid will be devastating to disabled people in New Jersey WBGO’s Janice Kirkel has more:
People with disabilities make up 1 in 3 people enrolled in Medicaid nationally. Cuts could lead to a loss of essential services, more institutionalization, and worse outcomes for the health of the disabled. Medicaid is a crucial source of funding for long-term services and supports for people with disabilities, including home and community based services and nursing home care.
Cuts to those services could also exacerbate shortages in the nation’s workforce of those who provide direct care and also lead to job losses in healthcare … that in turn could reduce access to services and hurt local economies.
The numbers tell the story of how far-reaching the effects of the cuts will be … Patrick Cokley is senior program officer of Equity and Social Justice Partnerships at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:
"1 point 9 million are enrolled in New Jersey family care, 1 out of 3 children, 4 out of 7 nursing home residents, so changes to these programs will have significant impacts. We’re not talking a small group of people, we’re talking about folks that we know, members of our community, members of our family."
Cokley says those affected by the cuts may not always be the recipients themselves:
"It’s one of those things too where even direct changes may impact us in different ways. Caregivers will oftentimes receive either support or work in programs that are funded by Medicaid and if those go away then suddenly caregiving is not something as easy to access as it was before."
The loss of those services … he says … could mean a huge step backward for the disabled … who with care can lead more active lives:
"For people with disabilities Medicaid is more than just healthcare, it’s a program that really allows them to continue to work and continue to live in the community. We’re talking about people suddenly not being able to access home and community based services, not being able to go to work and not being able to stay and live in the communities that they love."
The cuts in federal aid … says Cokley … put thousands more in the uninsured category … and can cost lives:
"In Jersey specifically shrinking the federal medical assistance percentage which is one of the things that is part of the cut that could lead to over 385,000 more uninsured people in New Jersey which could lead to as many as 1200 lives lost per year."
Maria Town is president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities … she says the services that are so important to the disabled may be especially vulnerable to cutting:
"As Medicaid gets cut the state of New Jersey, the state of New York they’re gonna have to figure out what programs to drop and we’re very concerned that home and community based services and support for family caregivers, payment for personal care attendants for example, are all gonna dry up.
Some say charitable organizations can pick up the slack … or some of it … but Town says that revives images of the disabled that should be left in the past:
"People with disabilities especially before Medicaid were often forced to rely on charity to get their needs met, one of the stereotypes that we still have to confront and deal with on a regular basis even today is the stereotype of the disabled beggar."
Town is disabled herself … she says she felt the cruelty of the system many years ago:
"In the mid to late 90s the state of Louisiana changed the way that they were managing their Medicaid waiver system and I went thru a redetermination and the state determined that I was too smart to need Medicaid so I lost all my services. My disability didn’t go away."
Town is 38 … she says her condition as it is now requires her to have help at home … but …
"One day I likely will need Medicaid and so that’s something that I want everyone to remember, disability is, it’s a natural part of the human condition, as you age disability happens and that’s not, it’s not a bad thing, it is a fact of life."
Town says what will likely happen along with the cuts to Medicaid are more redeterminations. She urges everyone to have all their documentation up to date and available to be ready if they are called in to show that they are still disabled and still need all the care they’ve been getting, especially the elderly who may not have current documentation of their disabilities.
She also says there is still time before these cuts go into effect to convince state lawmakers of the importance of Medicaid and the preservation of programs.
People in New Jersey and elsewhere may also have their SNAP benefits cut … that is a critical resource for food for people with disabilities.
For the WBGO Journal, I’m Janice Kirkel.
NOTE: WBGO's "Voices of Wellness" series is made possible in part by a grant from the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey.