A Former State Medicaid Director’s Sobering Take on the Impact of the Senate’s Proposed Medicaid Funding Cuts

https://goo.gl/YT13YX

As soon as tomorrow, the Senate plans to vote on its version of Affordable Care Act “repeal and replace” legislation. However, much of this bill is not actually about changing the ACA itself. Instead, it would radically alter the Medicaid program and its historic financing arrangement between the state and federal government. It would fundamentally change the relationship between the federal government and the states by shifting expenses and the risk of future cost growth onto state budgets.

Medicaid is currently the largest single source of federal revenue to states. The Senate bill aims to trim that significantly by instituting a capped funding arrangement. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that, in the near term, this new financing structure would result in a 26 percent in federal funding which would eventually increase to a sobering 35 percent loss in funding to states in 2036.

These reduced federal funding limits would put pressure on states to demand that the federal government give them much more latitude in operating their Medicaid programs and force states to make substantial changes to the detriment of enrollees. States would also become much more aggressive in trimming costs, including by tightening eligibility, provider rates and benefits. As states struggle to make up for losses in federal Medicaid funding, they will also face pressure to cut other priorities like education.


5 Ways The U.S. Is Still Horrible At Handling Disabilities

https://goo.gl/fGmjxa

Society has taken great strides to secure the equal rights of minority groups, and though we've run into some stumbling blocks along the way, we like to think we're doing a reasonably good job. But there's one minority group whose pleas for equality have gone depressingly unheard: disabled people. It's a fairly wide umbrella, one that includes a variety of both physical and mental conditions. Depending on your disability, it's still perfectly legal in America to screw you over in a fabulous myriad of ways. For example ...

5: Disabled Americans Are Being Murdered By Their Caregivers

Like most minorities, the disabled make up a disproportionate amount of the victims of violence and murder. In the U.S., a disabled person is deliberately killed by their caretaker (usually a family member) around once a week on average, totaling 219 cases in the last five years. Even worse, the media will frequently side with the killer. For some reason, society at large has decided that murdering disabled people falls into some kind of moral "grey area," around the level of whether or not vegetarians can eat fish.


These Americans Hated the Health Law. Until the Idea of Repeal Sank In

https://goo.gl/JGeCMX

Five years ago, the Affordable Care Act had yet to begin its expansion of health insurance to millions of Americans, but Jeff Brahin was already stewing about it.

“It’s going to cost a fortune,” he said in an interview at the time.

This week, as Republican efforts to repeal the law known as Obamacare appeared all but dead, Mr. Brahin, a 58-year-old lawyer and self-described fiscal hawk, said his feelings had evolved.

“As much as I was against it,” he said, “at this point I’m against the repeal.”

“Now that you’ve insured an additional 20 million people, you can’t just take the insurance away from these people,” he added. “It’s just not the right thing to do.”

As Mr. Brahin goes, so goes the nation.


This woman has been arrested 131 times fighting for disability rights—and she’s not done yet

https://goo.gl/59awoc

One of the most striking protests in Washington, D.C. so far this year—and there have been many, over everything from immigration to taxes—came courtesy of ADAPT, a grassroots disability rights organization on the front lines of the battle for health care.

In June, ADAPT staged a demonstration against Republicans’ proposed cuts to Medicaid outside Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s office. Dozens of disabled protesters held a “die-in”, removing themselves from wheelchairs and scooters and lying on the floor. The drastic approach was designed to call attention to how the badly the cuts could hurt the disabled and ended in several people being dragged from the building by police.

One of the most striking protests in Washington, D.C. so far this year—and there have been many, over everything from immigration to taxes—came courtesy of ADAPT, a grassroots disability rights organization on the front lines of the battle for health care.

In June, ADAPT staged a demonstration against Republicans’ proposed cuts to Medicaid outside Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s office. Dozens of disabled protesters held a “die-in”, removing themselves from wheelchairs and scooters and lying on the floor. The drastic approach was designed to call attention to how the badly the cuts could hurt the disabled and ended in several people being dragged from the building by police.

Anita Cameron, one of the protesters arrested that day, has a message for people who are shocked by the photos. “Concentrate on why we’re there, and not how we’re being treated” by police, she says. “People look at the disability and they think we are helpless or fragile…and that’s so far from the truth.”


DOJ Places Website Rulemaking on the “Inactive” List

https://goo.gl/FofmW3

Federal agencies typically provide public notice of the regulations that are under development twice a year in the Unified Regulatory Agenda. The first Agenda the Trump Administration issued, which went online July 20, 2017, contains some very noteworthy changes from the last such Agenda, issued by the Obama Administration.

For the first time, the Agenda breaks down all agency regulatory actions into three categories: active, long-term, or inactive. While the Agenda does not define these terms, it appears that only the active and long-term matters receive a description and projected deadlines. The inactive matters appear on a PDF document under a link called “2017 Inactive Actions”.

The Agenda places the Department of Justice’s rulemakings under Titles II and III of the ADA for websites, medical equipment, and furniture of public accommodations and state and local governments on this 2017 Inactive Actions list, with no further information. Thus, as we had predicted, there will be no regulations about public accommodations or state and local government websites for the foreseeable future.

In the absence of website regulations, the courts are filling the void with a patchwork of decisions that often conflict with one another. The uncertain legal landscape has fueled a surge of lawsuits and demand letters filed and sent on behalf of individuals with disabilities alleging that the websites of thousands of public accommodations are not accessible.