Medicaid Cuts: "My Son Will Regress"

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss Medicaid services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as other government programs at the federal and state levels.

At Disability Scoop, Michelle Diament reports on protests against Graham-Cassidy:

Even with momentum for the Republican plan waning, disability advocates are continuing to push their members to call senators since there hasn’t yet been a vote.

“The danger right now is if Senate offices think that folks aren’t as outraged about this bill as the last, so every individual voice adds to the overwhelming wall of pressure we’re fighting to maintain,” said Julia Bascom, executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.

Graham-Cassidy includes a per capita cap to Medicaid - to find out what that does, check out our guide #SaveMedicaid https://t.co/2ZHjBHMULh

— autselfadvocacy (@autselfadvocacy) September 25, 2017

In Minneapolis, Pat Kessler reports at WCCO-TV:

Gov. Mark Dayton was at the State Capitol Monday with a few of the 1.2 million Minnesotans who are on Medicaid.

About 22 percent of all Minnesotans are on Medicaid. It pays 54 percent of all nursing home costs.

Of those on Medicaid, 60 percent of them are seniors and people with disabilities.

One of them is Kate Swenson’s son, who has autism.

“If [Medicaid] goes away, we don’t know what we’ll do, because in the short time he has been there, public education couldn’t take care of him,” she said. “They’ve taught him skills — such as using the toilet, drinking from a cup, sitting in a chair. If we lost that, my son will regress dramatically. And there are no other options.”