February 20, 2026

VOR's Weekly News Update

VOR is a national non-profit organization

run by families of people with I/DD and autism

for families of people with I/DD and autism.

Registration is Open!

VOR's 2026 Legislative Initiative

June 8 - 10

Washington D.C.

We are proud to announce that we will be returning to Capitol Hill this June.

We have a limited number of hotel rooms avaialable, at the ridiculously low price of $178 per night for a single room, $269 per night for a double.

Please register for the initiative now to reserve your rooms.

This week, we'd like to share a story from our friends at the National Council for Severe Autism. This piece is a case study in the shortcomings of the Settings Rule, and illustrates how the rule actually harms many people receiving Home- and Community- Based Services.

Ann’s requests to install a camera have been denied, her concerns have been largely dismissed, and communications with the investigator initially assigned to her case have been spotty. Caroline’s injuries, according to her service provider’s CEO, are “not atypical,” and she apparently “has suffered no serious injuries” since being placed under the provider’s care. As her family continues to fight these specious claims, Caroline’s story has laid bare a critical policy shortcoming: the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Settings Rule, designed to promote community integration for people with disabilities, has not successfully accounted for the safety and clinical needs of adults with severe autism. 

Pursuant to civil rights policy, all people with disabilities, including those with severe autism, are entitled to community integration with appropriate, person-centered support. Caroline is a vibrant woman who, despite her extraordinary support needs, thrives with consistent, attentive care. She enjoys her morning coffee (with ample refills), car rides, and a bubble bath after a long day. Her early care providers understood her needs, and when Caroline was first placed in private care homes, she flourished. Why? Because provider oversight in these settings was characterized by transparency, trust, and common sense. Ann remained heavily involved in her daughter’s care during the early days, collaborating with providers who welcomed her maternal input and daily visits as a means of sensible, appropriate care. Caroline’s support staff read and responded to her aggressive behaviors, recognizing them not as acts to be punished but as communication of want, discomfort, and distress. Most importantly, Caroline, as those close to her are aware, has never been a clumsy individual, and in these care environments, rarely sustained so much as a bruise. Unfortunately, her situation took a turn when the setting of her residence lost its Medicaid backing after being presumed institutional under the CMS Settings Rule, the main provisions of which are found under 42 CFR § 441.530.  

Continued

From our friends at the Saving Wrentham and Hogan Alliance, we are happy to share the next installment in their five part series on the history of legal battles in Massachusetts.

Ricci v. Okin: The Lawsuit That Forced Massachusetts to Fix Its Institutions

Saving Wrentham and Hogan Alliance, February 20, 2026

The story you’re about to read is not just about the past. It is about the decisions that shape the lives of people with the highest needs right now — people who cannot speak for themselves, who rely on us to tell the truth about what happened, and who live with the consequences of policies built on a distorted history. Understanding how the state rewrote its institutional past is essential to understanding why our system looks the way it does today, and why so many families are still fighting for safe, stable, and clinically appropriate care.

To understand how we arrived at the system we have today, we have to look back at the history that shaped it.

Before Massachusetts ever faced the failures exposed in Rolland, the state had already been under federal court scrutiny for decades.

Ricci v. Okin, filed in 1972, emerged in a period when children and adults with intellectual disabilities were routinely sent to state institutions because there were no community services and no legal right to a public education. At that time, none of the federal Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IID) standards or reforms that would later reshape institutional care existed.

Ricci became the first major challenge to the conditions inside these state facilities and set the stage for every reform effort that followed.

Continued

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



If you haven't yet read the Saving Waltham and Hogan Alliance's ICF vs HCBS cost analysis, we encourage you to download it and read it now.

Please click here to download the cost comparison

VOR supports increasing funding for services for people with Severe/Profound I/DD and autism. We have long felt that those on this end of the spectrum have been marginalized, and that more money has been appropriated to people who best fit into the models of Community Living and Competitive Integrated Employment.

But in this era of decreased funding, we understand that legislators are forced to make choices that seem cruel to some, justified to others.

This story from British Columbia (Canada) illustrates the other side of the attempt to create a more equitable system.

B.C. families fear new needs-based funding model will hurt children on the autism spectrum

By Shivani Joshi, CBC, February 19, 2026

After facing heavy criticism from parents over previous attempts to revise the funding model for children on the autism spectrum, the province promised families they could keep their individualized support funding. Now, four years later, the province has unveiled a new funding model. As the CBC's Shivani Joshi reports, some parents are worried their children could see their funding cut back.

This story is only available on YouTube. Click here to view

With friends like Utah’s Disability Law Center, who needs enemies?

By Elinore McCance-Katz and Devon Kurtz, Utah News Dispatch, February 13, 2026

A little-known federal program focused on mental illness is under new scrutiny by the state legislature. For decades, the federal Protection and Advocacy program has funded Utah’s Disability Law Center to ensure that people suffering from debilitating mental illnesses are offered dignified and humane care. These organizations have federal authority to investigate abuse, neglect, and civil rights violations in clinical psychiatric settings.

But DLC and other Protection and Advocacy organizations have long since strayed from the program’s original intentions and have become focused more on preventing mentally ill people from getting treatment at all than on ensuring they are not neglected or abused when receiving treatment. To many Protection and Advocacy organizations, clinically-recommended treatment is too often mischaracterized as a form of abuse.

Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, introduced a resolution and a bill that would better position state leaders to evaluate how well DLC’s work aligns with the evolving state and federal landscape on mental illness policy. These proposals hold tremendous potential to improve the way Utah cares for one of its most vulnerable populations. 

Policymakers and advocates alike have raised concerns nationwide that there are too many barriers to treatment for the most mentally ill individuals, many of whom end up in jail, prison, or homeless because of their untreated mental illness. At the same time, there are far fewer concerns about the conditions of clinical psychiatric settings, in large part due to state-level oversight through departments of health and human services and hospital accreditors.

These safeguards have greatly reduced allegations of abuse and neglect and significantly improved the level of care and treatment of the seriously mentally ill nationwide.

But these improvements have also led to Protection and Advocacy programs like DLC to focus more effort on “representing” some of the most severely impaired of those afflicted with mental illness to assist them in stopping life-preserving medications. Protection and Advocacy organizations file nearly twice as many cases related to an individual’s clinical treatment as cases related to neglect or abuse combined.

Many of these “clients” suffer from debilitating cognitive effects from their illness and cannot responsibly manage their own clinical treatment. As a result, Protection and Advocacy organizations represent their client’s harmful delusions rather than what has been determined to be the most appropriate clinical course of action and seek court orders to cease psychiatric medications.

When organizations like DLC sue hospitals and clinicians to prevent the treatment of individuals suffering from the most severe forms of psychosis, they enable the de facto criminalization of mental illness and jeopardize the lives of their clients.

Disability Law Center, along with many other similar organizations, defend their work as within the federal framework for Protection and Advocacy. But a U.S. Government Accountability Office report warned that the oversight body for these programs, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, has failed to complete periodic reviews to ensure that these programs comply with federal priorities.

Federal oversight of Protection and Advocacy programs is woefully inadequate. State leaders must step up to fill this gap and ensure that this program, whether administered by DLC or a new organization, demonstrably improves the condition of their clients. The legislature’s efforts this session are important steps towards a better system of care for the mentally ill in Utah and has the potential to catalyze state and federal reforms nationwide.

Read The full article here

Assessment vs. Reality: Nebraska disability assessment changes leave hundreds facing funding cuts (Part One of Two)

By Anthony D'Agostino, 10110=-NOW, February 17, 2026

Hundreds of people with developmental disabilities in Nebraska have been told they are dropping at least one level under a new state assessment system, a change that could cost them and their caregivers thousands of dollars.

The assessment, called InterRAI, is a standardized tool used by the state to determine funding tiers that dictate how much support someone receives.

Those who have completed the assessment say it is not being scored fairly.

People placed in the high tier are most affected when they are bumped down. Individuals in that tier typically require 24-hour support, while those in lower tiers do not.

Abby Woods, a shared living provider in Lincoln, said she is facing a $30,000 pay cut after the teenager she cares for was moved from the high tier to the intermediate tier, despite using a wheelchair and being fully dependent on her care.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Woods said.

Woods cares for Zane, a Lincoln teenager with complex medical needs. She said she knows everything about him, from his food preferences to how to keep him safe given his medical history.

“Up until recently, Zane has been funded at the high tier, which aligns very well with his needs,” Woods said. “He can’t be alone. He needs someone to help meet his daily needs. He can’t feed himself. He uses a G-tube. He can’t transfer to a bathroom, so he can’t go to the bathroom by himself. He does need 24-hour care.”

The Arc of Nebraska, an advocacy organization for people with disabilities, said it has received more than 200 complaints about the assessment process and results. Assessments are still ongoing.

While some families say loved ones were moved down a tier, others say their results do not reflect their actual abilities.

Dilan, who has autism, said his assessment indicated he is nonverbal, despite answering most of the evaluator’s questions himself.

“I don’t understand, since I was telling them most of the answers, which confused me to heck and back,” Dilan said.

After the assessment, he was placed in the high tier. Even after working with his service coordinator to correct answers, the classification did not change.

Being classified in the high tier means Dilan cannot work as a paid caregiver — something he hopes to do. He currently helps his mother care for a medically complex foster child but cannot earn income from that work because of his classification.

Continued

Assessment vs. Reality: Placement in the wrong tier puts developmentally disabled Nebraskans at risk (Part Two of Two)

By Anthony D'Agostino, WOWT-6, February 18, 2026

While shared living providers in Nebraska are worried about cuts to funding, others are concerned for the safety that comes with it.

When people with developmental disabilities are moved to lower funding tiers, it’s not just about lost income. Service providers say the assessment changes are creating safety concerns by placing people in the wrong groups.

Many developmentally disabled people use day services to socialize and engage in the community. But when the InterRAI assessment puts people in the wrong tier, they end up in groups that don’t match their actual needs.

Carol Salber, a licensed mental health therapist and mother, knows the safety risks firsthand. Her adult son Dalton has severe autism and epilepsy and needs one-on-one attention to keep him safe.

“My son, has been known to stop in the middle of a parking lot. And I don’t know why. He’s done that multiple times. I don’t know why he does it. I’d love for him to be able to tell me what’s going on,” Salber said.

Dalton uses a device to communicate, but even with that, he struggles to fully express himself. Despite his diagnoses and needs, Dalton was moved down to the intermediate tier on the InterRAI assessment.

This doesn’t only affect funding but supervision levels at places like The Vessel Network, a service provider and day center for people with disabilities. The CEO says they sort people into groups of similarly-disabled people based on their tier, which correlates to their safety needs.

“If an individual was previously a high waiver-funded individual, and lets say they have elopement on there or wandering, and you are dropped down to an intermediate, and so you’re put on a ratio of maybe four or five individuals, but this person wants to elope. And this individual takes off, then your other individuals could be left standing there if you don’t have other staff around to help support,” said Jenny Grove, CEO of The Vessel Network.

Salber worries about the impossible choices this creates for staff.

“Well, what kind of like Sophie’s choice do you get to make? Go save, you know, move the kid that’s going to be hit by a car. Or do I try and keep these other people safe as well?” she said.

The day center also relies on the developmental disability waiver program to get their funding. Every time someone is moved down a tier, they receive less money.

That’s what has Salber worried for her son. Dalton wants to be involved in the community. He goes to church to do volunteer work and is involved in Special Olympics and has independent providers that help him achieve that.

“But he’s not going to be able to do that without a high level of support and supervision and continue to be safe,” Salber said.

She’s also concerned about what happens when she’s no longer able to care for him.

“It’s really scary as a parent to feel like, okay, I’m doing as much as I can for now, but I’m not going to be here forever. So, if somebody else is taking over the primary caregiving and supporting things for him, and they read his chart and say, ‘oh, moderate level supervision, we’re good,’ what’s going to happen to him? Because that will not keep him safe,” she said.

Continued

DDS line items would get small increases while some MassHealth accounts would see cuts under governor’s FY ’27 budget

By David Kassel, The COFAR Blog, February 11, 2026

Governor Maura Healey has proposed relatively small increases in the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) budget for provider-run group homes, state-operated group homes, and for the Wrentham and Hogan Centers in the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1.

However, some of the state’s largest MassHealth accounts would face cuts under the governor’s budget proposal, raising the possibility of cuts in funding for Day Habilitation and Adult Foster Care programs and Personal Care Attendants for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).

MassHealth is Massachusetts’ Medicaid program, through which the state administers and receives federal Medicaid reimbursement.

There appears to be no indication yet that the state’s 50% Medicaid reimbursement level from the federal government will be cut. But there have been proposals at the federal level to do so. At the same time, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have maintained the cuts won’t affect people with I/DD.

On January 28, Healey unveiled a $62.8 billion proposed budget for Massachusetts for the coming fiscal year. The governor’s budget legislation has been sent to the state Legislature’s House Ways and Means Committee; and from there it will proceed to votes in the full House and Senate.

Among the DDS line items we are concerned about are the following:

• The Wrentham and Hogan Intermediate Care Facilities (ICFs) (Line item 5930-1000):

Healey has proposed a $4.6 million, or 3.5%, increase in this line item, bringing it from $129.7 million to $134.3 million.

Despite that increase, we remain concerned that the Wrentham and Hogan Centers are being allowed to die by attrition, given that the administration routinely denies admission to them. Since Fiscal Year 2012, the ICF line item has been cut by more than $18 million, or more than 12%.

We visited the House Ways and Means and other key committees at the State House yesterday, asking them to support proposed language in the ICF line item that we think would open those facilities to new admissions. Our proposed language states that persons eligible for ICF-level care in Massachusetts have a right to that care.

• State-operated group homes (Line Item 5920-2010):

The governor has proposed a $25 million, or 7.2%, increase in this line item, which funds state-operated group homes. The increase would bring projected spending of $347.2 million in the current fiscal year to $372.3 million next year.

We believe the administration, while proposing modest increases in this line item, is also effectively allowing the state-run group home network to die by attrition. The data coming from DDS is inconsistent, however, regarding the trend in the total number of residents, or census, in those facilities.

Continued

Families, caregivers plead with Missouri lawmakers to reverse governor’s disability cuts

By Steph Quinn, The Missouri Independent, Bebruary 13, 2026

Dozens of Missourians with developmental disabilities, their families, care staff and advocates packed a basement hearing room in the Capitol this week to oppose $80.7 million in proposed cuts to services that help people with disabilities live safely in their homes and participate actively in their communities.

One witness after another testified — to applause from the audience and tears from some lawmakers — that the proposed pay rate reductions of 21% to 29% would force care staff to find other work. That, in turn, could drive many disabled Missourians to seek care from agencies and institutions less attuned to their needs, or worse, where some worry they could suffer neglect.

The budget proposal put forth by Gov. Mike Kehoe would cut $28.6 million in state general revenue spending, and the state would lose almost twice as much federal match funding as a result. 

Department of Mental Health Director Valerie Huhn also told lawmakers Tuesday that funding levels in the governor’s proposed budget could lead to a waitlist for new applicants by late summer or fall. Community residential placements could see waitlists by winter.

Continued

Advocates for disabilities community are facing ‘déjà vu’ over proposed state budget cuts

Bu Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters via Bethesda Today, February 20, 2026

Developmental disabilities caregiver Idris Idowu fears that a Moore administration proposal to slash $150 million from the state agency that oversees those services will not only hurt his clients — if could threaten his ability to support his family as well.

“I have a family of four depending on me. My children look to me to keep a roof over their heads or food on the table,” Idowu told rallygoers Wednesday in Annapolis. “Now you are proposing wage cuts — let me be clear about what that means for people like me. It means choosing between groceries and electricity.”

Idowu was referring to the budget offered by Gov. Wes Moore (D), which slashes funding to the state Developmental Disabilities Administration, with many of the cuts aimed at additional wages given to providers who care for people who need more intensive support.

“I chose this profession because I believe in helping people with disabilities care for themselves,” he said. “How can I pour from an empty cup? How can I give my best to the people I support when I am drowning myself? … We are essential and yet we are treated as expendable.”

He was one of hundreds of support staff who joined people with developmental disabilities and family members on Lawyers Mall Wednesday for the annual “DD Day,” where advocates lobby lawmakers on how they can help the developmental disabilities community.

It’s the second year that advocates have come to Annapolis with deep concerns about proposed cuts to the DDA.

Last year, Moore’s initial budget proposed more than $400 million in cuts to the DDA, as the state was struggling to close a $3 billion budget gap. That brought out hundreds with developmental disabilities, their families and caretakers to rally on a cold January evening. Subsequent lobbying and work with lawakers over the course of the legislative session brought the final cuts last year to about $164 million.

This year, with the state facing a $1.6 billion budget shortfall, Moore is proposing a cut of about $150 million in general funds, which advocates note will result in a total cut of $300 million with the loss of matching federal dollars under federal Medicaid waivers.

“Here we are again this year, trying to defend an inadequate budget,” said Laura Hatcher, whose son has developmental and intellectual disabilities and needs round-the-clock care.

“I still have fears — in many ways, it’s like déjà vu,” she said.

This year’s proposed cuts include a series of “cost containment” measures to help curtail what officials call “unsustainable” spending growth from the agency. Advocates say the proposed cuts threaten the wages for one-on-one support staff and other positions that help people with the highest needs.

“These cuts would be harmful to us, and they will hurt us and put our services at risk,” Tracy Wright, deputy director for People on the Go Maryland. “We understand that we have to be responsible … but this isn’t the way to do it.”

Continued

While the following story focuses on HCBS for the aging population, everything in it applies equally to people with I/DD and autism who receive Medicaid services through HCBS.

New issue brief documents what’s at stake if Medicaid HCBS is cut

By Liz Seegert, Association of Health Care Journalists, February 16, 2026

A new KFF issue brief lays out how extensively states now rely on Medicaid to pay and assist family members who provide care, and how vulnerable those services may be in the decade ahead. Medicaid HCBS, or home and community based services, are a critical support for millions of older adults who want to age at home, helping their families provide round-the-clock care. 

Medicaid now pays about two-thirds of all U.S. spending on home- and community-based services, filling a gap left by Medicare, which generally does not cover long-term home care for older adults.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” also known as H.R. 1, was signed into law last July. It is projected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by $911 billion over the next decade. The cuts are raising alarms among aging and caregiving advocates, who fear states will respond by trimming optional benefits, especially home- and community-based services that help older adults remain at home. Since most home care programs in Medicaid are not mandatory, they are an obvious target when states are forced to make budget choices.

“Unlike the federal government, states are required to balance their budgets,” said Alice Burns, Associate Director of KFF’s Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured. “We don’t yet know how these cuts will play out.” However, if states pull back on payments and supports for family caregivers, some older adults may find their only option is either institutional care, or having unpaid relatives do even more with less help.

[You] can see how [your state] stacks up by analyzing the data in this KFF issue brief’s tables that look at states’ policies on waivers, caregiver payments and other supports, as well as paid worker shortages.

Worker shortages and financial stress

While demand for home care for older adults is rising, the availability of paid home care workers is shrinking. Nearly one in three home care workers are immigrants, and the Trump Administration’s more restrictive immigration and enforcement policies are expected to worsen shortages of aides willing and able to work in people’s homes. 

Since the crackdown began, about 13% of paid home care workers report not going to work and about 40% of undocumented workers have not worked, according to Burns. “It’s inconceivable that this won’t place a further strain on home care.”

Read the full article here

What Newly Released Medicaid Data Do and Don’t Tell Us

By Alice Burns and Robin Rudowitz, KFF, February 20, 2026

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is focused on addressing “fraud, waste and abuse” in health programs including Medicaid. Efforts span across different types of health coverage and across all provider and service types. In November 2025, CMS issued a letter to states describing opportunities for federal and state governments to work collaboratively. Efforts to address fraud, waste and abuse are not new. The Center for Program Integrity (CPI), within CMS, was established in 2010 to coordinate program integrity efforts and move from a “pay and chase” model to higher reliance on data analytics to detect and prevent fraud. CPI has worked with states to provide training through the Medicaid Integrity Institute and access to broad sets of complete data to help promote program integrity efforts.

On February 14, 2026, CMS released a dataset with provider-level spending data that the agency suggests could be used to identify unusual billing patterns for specific services, states, or providers. This policy watch describes what the data include, what they exclude, and how they could potentially lead to mistaken conclusions given the limitations of the data.

Continued

Kennedy’s Push To Find Cause Of Autism Divides Republicans In Congress

By Ariel Cohen, CQ-Roll Call, February 18, 2026

One year into his first term, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s focus on autism is showing how polarizing Trump administration health policy can be for Capitol Hill Republicans.

Some GOP lawmakers say Kennedy’s interest in autism is counterproductive and could cause long-term mistrust in public health as the administration reopens investigations into vaccines as the cause, which numerous studies have debunked.

Others say that any attention on autism is good attention and point to recent increases in federal spending on research into the condition as evidence.

At the outset of his term as secretary, Kennedy vowed to quickly find the root cause of autism. He hasn’t, but Kennedy has warned the American public not to take Tylenol during pregnancy or give the medication to babies while ending the use of the preservative thimerosal in large-batch vaccines, all because of unproven ties to autism.

In January, Kennedy overhauled the federal autism advisory committee, replacing all public members with his own picks — including several who have ties to the anti-vaccine community or support dubious autism treatments.

“If you stir the pot on theories that have been disproven … it creates anxiety and a lot of self-recrimination,” Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., said when asked about Kennedy’s interest in the link between vaccines and autism. “But it’s not true, and it delays finding out what is the reason (for autism).”

Cassidy, who cast a deciding vote on the Senate Finance Committee to confirm Kennedy, was asked if Kennedy has been receptive to his point of view on vaccines and autism in their conversations. To that, Cassidy shrugged and responded, “look at his actions.”

The issue is personal for Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, who co-led the reauthorization of a major autism research and programs funding bill in 2024. Her husband has a son with severe autism.

“I think it’s helpful to look further into research on the causes of autism. I did not think that it was helpful in any way to link it to vaccines, because the scientific evidence does not support such a link,” Collins said when asked about the administration’s focus.

National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya struggled to defend Kennedy’s interest in the links between vaccines and autism at the Senate Health hearing this month. Bhattacharya told lawmakers that he did not believe the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was linked to autism, but when pressed he did not rule out a link between autism and other shots and said the press paints an unfair “caricature” of the secretary.

Continued

Please share this offer with your loved one's

Direct Support Professionals!

VOR ❤️s OUR

DIRECT SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS!

Our loved ones' caregivers are essential to their health, safety, and happiness.

In appreciation of their good work and kind hearts, VOR offers free digital memberships to any DSP who would like to receive our newsletter.

We encourage our members to speak with their loved ones' caregivers to extend this offer of our gratitude.

If you are a Direct Support Professional interested in receiving our newsletter and e-content, please write us at

info@vor.net

with your name, email address, and the name of the facility at which you work. Please include the name of the VOR member who told you of this offer.

[Please click on blue link to view information about the bill]

VOR SUPPORTS:

H.R.6137 / S.3211 - Rep.Brian Fitzpatrick (R-NJ) and Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) - A bill to require the Office of Management and Budget to consider revising the Standard Occupational Classification system to establish a separate code for direct support professionals

H.R.4796 - Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) - Restoring Essential Healthcare Act -To amend Public Law 119-21 (The One Big Beautiful Bill Act) to repeal the prohibition on making payments under the Medicaid program to certain entities.

H.R.4807 - Rep Greg Landsman (D-OH) - Protect Our Hospitals Act - To amend Public Law 119-21 to repeal certain changes to provider taxes under the Medicaid program. 

H.R.1262 & S.932 - Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) "Give Kids A Chance Act" - To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to molecularly targeted pediatric cancer investigations. This bill would renew research into pediatric cancers and includes increasing funding for rare diseases, some of which cause Intellual and developmental disabilities and autism.  

H.R.1509 & S.752 - Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) & Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

Accelerating Kids' Access to Care Act -

This bill would amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to streamline the enrollment process for eligible out-of-state providers under Medicaid and CHIP, and streamline enrollment under the Medicaid program of certain providers across State lines.

H.R.2598 & S.1277 - Rep Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Sen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) The IDEA Full Funding Act

To amend part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide full Federal funding of such part.

S.2279 - Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO)

A bill to repeal the changes to Medicaid State provider tax authority and State directed payments made by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and provide increased funding for the rural health transformation program.

H.R.1950 - Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) - Protect Social Security and Medicare Act

To protect benefits provided under Social Security, Medicare, and any other program of benefits administered by the Social Security Administration or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 

S.779 & H.R.1735 - Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) & Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX)

To amend title XIX of the Public Health Service Act to provide for prevention and early intervention services under the Block Grants for Community Mental Health Services program

H.R.2491 & S.1227 - Rep Kat Cammack (R-FL) & Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) - The ABC Act

To require the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Commissioner of Social Security to review and simplify the processes, procedures, forms, and communications for family caregivers to assist individuals in establishing eligibility for, enrolling in, and maintaining and utilizing coverage and benefits under the Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and Social Security programs



VOR OPPOSES:

H.R.2743 & S.1332 - Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) & Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Raise the Wage Act - A bill to provide increases to the Federal minimum wage and for other purposes. VOR opposes the provision in this bill that would phase out section 14(c) and sheltered workshops for indiviiduals with I/DD and autism.

S.2438 - Transformation to Competitive Employment Act (Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) - A bill to assist employers providing employment under special certificates issued under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 in transforming their business and program models to models that support people with disabilities through competitive integrated employment, to phase out the use of such special certificates, and for other purposes. 

FACEBOOK: /VOR ----- TWITTER: @VOR_NET -----

Visit our YouTube Page

And visit our YouTube Archives here