July 18, 2025

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.

Congress Will Be Home In August!

Your members of Congress will be back in state and district during August.

Now is a good time to make appointments with your

Members of the House and Senate

and arrange for them to tour your loved ones' homes and workplaces!

Find your member of the House here

Find your Senators here

VOR Podcasts!

VOR's Casey Henry and Brenna Redfearn continue their new series!

Click here for Episode 1

Click here for Episode 2

More podcasts coming soon!

Medicare, Medicaid and the Older Americans Act turn 60. Will they survive the next 60 years?

By Liz Seegert, The Association of Health Care Journalists, July 3, 2025

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Medicare and Medicaid Act into law on July 30, 1965.

July marks the 60th anniversary of Medicare, Medicaid and the Older Americans Act (OAA).

Along with Social Security, these programs form the bedrock of health and economic well-being for older Americans. Signed into law in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson, they help ensure that every older adult has access to basic health care and income, as well as community services. 

Now, Medicaid faces substantial cuts in the the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed on July 4. Opponents predict that millions of older people and those who care for them will lose coverage under new requirements. Some seniors may no longer be able to afford their Medicare premiums or prescription medication, according to AARP, while those in their 50s and 60s may not be able to meet some of the newly imposed work requirements, jeopardizing their own health and their caregiving responsibilities. 

The steep budget cuts will also trigger major issues for some Medicare recipients, according to Juliette Cubanski, Ph.D., deputy director of KFF’s program on Medicare policy.

“The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 1.3 million people with Medicare will lose their Medicaid benefits because of the delays in implementation of the Medicaid eligibility and enrollment rules,” she said. 

Additionally, federal spending will be so high as a result of this bill, that it triggers what’s known as sequestration of Medicare, meaning it’s an across-the-board cut to all health care providers paid by Medicare, Gretchen Jacobson, Ph.D., vice president of Medicare for The Commonwealth Fund, said. 

“So, you can think of it as every check that goes out the door by the Medicare program is reduced by 4%,” Jacobson said. “It would affect doctors, hospitals, Medicare Advantage plans, Part D plans — every health care provider paid by Medicare.”

Continued

The Man Who Thinks Medicaid Cuts Won’t Cut Medicaid

In Kevin Hassett, the Trump administration has picked an especially unfortunate spokesperson.

By Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, July 7, 2025

The Trump administration’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” will reduce Medicaid spending by about $800 billion over the next decade by kicking some 8 million Americans off the program’s rolls. That is, if you listen to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the hospital industry, or the basic intuition that any plan to spend drastically less money on giving health care to poor people will result in those people ceasing to have health care.

But the Trump administration’s own projection is that the giant cuts in Medicaid will result in nobody losing coverage. If true, this would be astonishing, the fiscal equivalent of the Immaculate Conception. Fortunately, the administration has just the man to explain this economic miracle to the public: Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council and a professional soothsayer of implausible events that Republicans hope, or at least claim, will occur.

Appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation over the weekend, Hassett made his sales pitch. “It’s sound budgetary politics,” he said. “And I think that nobody’s going to lose their insurance.” Sadly for those Americans at risk of losing their access to medical care, and unsurprisingly for those familiar with Hassett’s track record as an economic forecaster, his explanation was not particularly convincing.

If the Trump administration’s estimate is based on an alternative model, Hassett did not share it. Instead, his argument was a purely negative one. The CBO, he explained, cannot be trusted, because it has been wrong in the past—specifically, during the debate over legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) during the first Trump administration. “Go back to 2017, when we had work requirements for Obamacare: They said that we’d lose about 4 million insured between 2017 and 2019, and about double that over the next 10 years,” he said. “And in fact, the number of insured went up.”

This sounds like a devastating indictment of CBO’s ability to measure the effect of work requirements on the uninsured rate. It becomes less impressive when you recall that the bill in question—Donald Trump’s attempt to repeal Obamacare—never became law. Trump proposed a national Medicaid work requirement in 2017, and Republicans passed a bill including that provision in the House, but it died in the Senate. (John McCain? Thumbs-down? Remember?)

Trump did, however, sign executive orders designed to undercut Obamacare. One of those orders allowed states to implement requirements for Medicaid. Arkansas took Trump up on the offer. The new requirements proved very hard for users to navigate, and caused significant coverage losses without any evidence of having increased employment. This real-world experiment informs the CBO’s model of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Now, it’s possible that other states will design systems for verifying employment status that work more smoothly than Arkansas’s. If that happens, however, it will defeat the Republican Party’s purpose for implementing them. The whole point is to save money, and the only way to save money is by kicking people off the program so that the government doesn’t have to pay for their medical treatment. (In addition to those who will lose their health insurance because of Medicaid cuts, the CBO projects that another 8 million people will lose their insurance by 2034 because of changes to the ACA private marketplaces.)

Hassett has not only made up a history of CBO being wrong about work requirements; he argues that this imagined sequence discredits the agency. “They should look back at all the things they got wrong, and explain what they’re going to do to get it right in the future and to do a better job,” he said on Face the Nation. “And if they do that, we’ll take them more seriously.”

Continued

The CBO Breakdown on Medicaid Losses, Increase in Uninsured

By D'Angelo Gore, FactCheck.org, July 11, 2025

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the House version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would reduce Medicaid enrollment and cause millions of people to become uninsured by 2034. It didn’t say that “5 million” of the people who are “going to lose insurance” would have “other insurance” so “they’re still insured,” as National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett misleadingly claimed.

Hassett was talking about some of the estimated changes to Medicaid coverage and access to other types of health insurance. But he exaggerated the number who the CBO said would still retain some coverage, and his remark may leave the mistaken impression that he was addressing the CBO’s estimate of the increase in the uninsured.

Some who are expected to lose Medicaid coverage will not be left entirely uninsured. For example, the figure that Hassett cited includes individuals the CBO said would lose Medicaid but keep their Medicare benefits. And Hassett’s figure includes people expected to be unenrolled from Medicaid in one state but remain enrolled in another state – meaning they wouldn’t actually lose Medicaid.

But Hassett also counted individuals the CBO said would lose Medicaid and not obtain other coverage for which they were eligible. That group wouldn’t still be insured, as Hassett claimed. Experts told us there are several reasons, such as affordability, why an uninsured person may not enroll in a health plan available to them.

What the CBO Said About Medicaid

A White House official told us that Hassett was referring to the CBO’s analysis of a House version of the bill. Under that proposed bill — which was different from the Senate version that became law — the CBO estimated that Medicaid enrollment would decrease by 10.5 million in 2034, and that 7.8 million people would be left wholly uninsured because of Medicaid-related provisions in the bill.

The 10.5 million figure included 1.3 million individuals who have both Medicaid and Medicare, but are projected to lose their Medicaid coverage. “They would retain Medicare coverage and not become uninsured,” the CBO said.

Meanwhile, the agency said the “10.5 million figure also reflects a reduction of 1.6 million people enrolled in Medicaid in more than one state; those enrollees would maintain Medicaid coverage in their home state.”

In addition, the CBO said that 1.6 million of the 7.8 million people estimated to become uninsured due to the bill’s Medicaid policies “would have access to, but would not take up, other forms of subsidized coverage,” such as employer-sponsored health insurance or a health plan available through insurance marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act.

That 1.6 million “also includes people who would remain eligible for Medicaid but would not enroll,” the CBO said.

Why Hassett’s Claim Is Misleading

Adding those three figures together produces a total of 4.5 million, which is close to the 5 million that Hassett cited. But his figure is misleading.

For one, the 1.6 million people that the CBO said would lose Medicaid and not obtain alternative coverage means they wouldn’t “have other insurance,” as Hassett said. 

The White House official we contacted argued that these are people who “will voluntarily forgo insurance coverage available to them,” but the CBO didn’t elaborate on why those people wouldn’t “take up” other insurance. There are multiple reasons why an uninsured person who qualifies for a health plan may not enroll.

“Surveys of Americans without insurance show that most either don’t think coverage is affordable or don’t know what programs they’re eligible for,” Dr. Benjamin Sommers, a Harvard University professor of health care economics and medicine, told us in an email.

“This law makes getting into and keeping Medicaid much harder, even for those who are already working and should still be eligible,” he said.

Read the full report here

'Catastrophe': States scramble after Trump's cuts to Medicaid, SNAP

By Sarah D. Wire, USA Today, July 16, 2025

 Marsha Tonkins has never been one to get involved in politics. She was happy to let others worry about such things.

But President Donald Trump's cuts to food stamps and health care for poor people and those with disabilities, among other things, have pushed her over the edge.

“I’m just worried, extremely worried,” said Tonkins, 57, who has a 17-year-old son with autism.

So, for the first time in her life, she attended a town hall, held July 10 by her Democratic member of Congress, Rep. April McClain Delaney.

State officials across the country like Delaney are trying to figure out how the cuts will affect their constituents.

In a half dozen interviews, they told USA TODAY that after months of lobbying against the spending bill, they now have to figure out how their states are going to manage to live with it ‒ and how to help residents like Tonkins do the same. But they're not even certain yet what the impacts will be.

Cuts to Medicaid and SNAP won't fully take effect until after the 2026 midterm elections, but states budget a year, or even two years into the future. Unlike the federal government, most states are required to balance their budgets.

That means making hard decisions about which people they can afford to protect and which ones will be left to fend for themselves.

“As public servants, we all feel a responsibility to fill these gaps, but there's not enough dirt for the hole," said Nevada Treasurer Zach Conine, a Democrat.

"The level of catastrophe that's being created here is not one that states like Nevada are going to be able to sort out," he said ‒ at least not without taking money from other priorities like mental health treatment, education and housing.

Trump and Republicans in Congress have said the budget cuts are needed to rein in government spending, reduce fraud and abuse in the programs and afford tax breaks.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, said the changes, particularly the new work requirements for able-bodied Medicaid recipients, will make the programs for people who rely on them.

"We're going to make that program work better for the people that are truly disabled and needy, not for somebody who's turning down work," he said in a news release.

But by requiring states to pick up a larger share of Medicaid costs and a percentage of food assistance benefits for the first time, Conine and other state officials said the federal cuts merely push costs and responsibilities down to the states.

States don't have the money to cover all of their new responsibilities, he said, and "will quickly be in a place where we have to make the decision between one group of vulnerable people or another group of vulnerable people."

‘Tsunami’ of costs offloaded onto states

Tonkins joined more than 150 people in an amphitheater-style classroom at Montgomery College’s Germantown campus. They came to hear not just from Delaney, but from Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown and Comptroller Brooke Lierman, both Democrats, about what the state will do to plug the estimated $100 million hole in next year's budget ‒ a hole that is estimated to get bigger in the ensuing years.

Lierman told attendees that her office will create a report within 60 days outlining what the bill means for Maryland’s revenue and taxes. It will be up to the Legislature to decide how to spend the money the state brings in.

States aren’t just facing the Medicaid and SNAP cutbacks, Delaney said. They are facing a “tsunami” of funding freezes, changes to education funding and other ways that the administration is "offloading" costs to states to make the federal government smaller.

“All of these things are layering upon each other. … It’s going to be very difficult for any state, no matter what their resources, to be able to be that stopgap,” she said.

Every state relies heavily on federal funds to balance their budget. According to a report by the National Association of State Budget Officers, federal funds accounted for just over one-third of total state expenditures in fiscal year 2024.

“It’s sort of death by 1,000 cuts. And that’s really the challenge here, is that there wasn’t just one thing in the bill that’s going to hurt our budget and hurt Marylanders,” Lierman told the gathered citizens at the town hall. “There were so many.”

Continued

Hospitals across nation brace for Medicaid cuts under ‘big, beautiful’ law 

By Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill, July 13, 2025

Hospitals are bracing for the impact from the Medicaid cuts in President Trump’s sweeping spending and tax cut law. 

While most of the cuts won’t happen immediately, rural facilities in particular say they likely will have to make difficult financial decisions about which services they can afford to keep and which may need to be cut. 

Hospitals loudly raised alarms about the legislation, but their warnings went unheeded, and now they say they will bear the brunt of the changes. 

The new law cuts about $1 trillion from Medicaid, primarily through stringent work requirements as well as reductions to how states can fund their Medicaid programs through provider taxes and state directed payments. 

Rural hospitals rely heavily on Medicaid funding because many of the patients they care for are low income. 

“Restrictions on state directed payments and provider taxes cut off critical financial lifelines for hospitals,” Bruce Siegel, president and CEO of America’s Essential Hospitals said in a statement. 

“State directed payments are a critical source of support for hospitals, particularly in rural areas, and provider taxes help reduce the gap between Medicaid and other payers, ensuring that physicians can take Medicaid patients and hospitals can be adequately staffed. Cutting these lifelines is not sustainable, and it will harm patients.” 

More than 300 rural hospitals in the U.S. are at risk of closing down because of the bill, according to research conducted by the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center for Health Services Research and released last month by Democratic lawmakers. 

Rural hospitals already operate on thin margins. The law’s Medicaid cuts will lead to more uninsured patients, meaning rural hospitals will not get paid for the services they are required by law to provide to patients, according to the report. In turn, they will face deeper financial strain. 

Medicaid-dependent services — like labor and delivery units, mental health care, and emergency rooms — are some of the least profitable, yet most essential, services that hospitals provide. But experts said those will likely be cut as hospitals try to stay afloat.  

In rural communities, Medicaid covers nearly half of all births and one-fifth of inpatient discharges, according to health research group KFF. 

Republicans pushed back the start date for the provider tax reductions until 2028, and they won’t be fully phased in until 2031. The bill was only signed into law on July 4, so hospitals said it’s too early for them to know specifics on which services they’ll have to cut back on. 

But the discussions are underway because hospitals need to start planning. 

Republicans concerned about the impact of the provider tax reduction on rural hospitals inserted a $50 billion relief fund into the law. The law calls for the money to be distributed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) over five years. 

The federal government will distribute half of the program’s $50 billion allotment equally among all states with an approved application over the next five years. 

But experts said the money isn’t nearly enough to make up for the impact of the cuts. According to a KFF analysis, federal Medicaid spending in rural areas is estimated to decline by $155 billion over a decade. 

Read the full article here

Note: Most states now rely on outside corporations to manage the payment systems for their Medicaid programs. This includes determining who qualifies for which services, the amounts to be paid if approved, and whether or not to demy the services outright. Managed care organizations are private companies, owned by shareholders as investments. When shareholders are not satisfied with the return on their investment, they withdraw their funds and invest elsewhere.

We are concerned that the managed care industry may falter if their profit margins are insufficient to meet their shareholders demands due to the Medicaid cuts in the OBBBA.



Challenges Facing Managed Care Organizations under the Current Administration

By Tara E. Dwyer, Lauren M. Moldawer, and Matthew Tikhonovsky, Mintz, July 17, 2025

Within the first six months of President Trump’s second term, his Administration and the GOP have already implemented significant policies that are reshaping health care in the United States. Through his Administration’s restructuring of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), promulgation of Marketplace Integrity and Affordability rules, sweeping RADV audit changes, and now the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA), entities throughout the health care industry—particularly managed care plans and sub-capitated providers—will need to readjust to the new paradigm.

Over the next few weeks, Mintz will commence a blog series exploring how the Administration’s and GOP’s policies will impact managed care plans in 2026 and beyond. This inaugural blog post focuses on the impact of OBBA on Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (Medicaid MCOs) and those sub-capitated providers taking global risk from such plans. 

President Trump signed the OBBA into law on July 4, 2024. While none of the provisions of OBBA directly target managed care, it is clear that Medicaid MCOs and sub-capitated providers are collateral damage. Central to OBBA are cost cutting measures impacting the Medicaid program. These provisions focus on reducing federal expenditures by (i) tightening Medicaid eligibility requirements, resulting in the loss of Medicaid coverage for millions of individuals; and (ii) reducing the federal share paid to state Medicaid programs. The implementation of these policies, however, will disproportionately result in the loss of Medicaid coverage for the younger and healthier adult population, which has the potential to significantly impact Medicaid managed care plans’ risk pools. As a result, Medicaid MCOs and sub-capitated providers will be left to manage a sicker patient population, potentially with less funding. 

Continued

Centene strained as Medicaid concerns affect managed care insurers

By Tyler Hammel and Jason Woleben, S&P Global, July 15, 2025

Centene Corp. has had a challenging month on Wall Street after the company joined a growing trend of health insurers pulling earnings guidance amid climbing costs, lowering membership and political uncertainty surrounding Medicaid.

The health insurance giant became the second managed care insurer to pull its 2025 guidance, announcing via a July 1 news release that data suggested growth in 22 of the 29 states it operates in is lower than expected and that Affordable Care Act plan morbidity could be "significantly higher."

Plans under the ACA, also known as Obamacare, are offered through a government and private insurer partnership that expands coverage through Medicaid, creating marketplaces for individuals and small businesses to purchase insurance, with the government providing subsidies.

Facing lower marketplace growth and a misreading of the health status of its ACA population, Centene is refiling its 2026 rates to reflect a far less healthy ACA risk pool, according to Blake Madden, a managed care business analyst and publisher of the Hospitalogy newsletter.

"Managed care's decadelong victory lap is officially over," Madden wrote in a July 8 post. "2025 is shaping up as the year the sector relearns that underwriting discipline — and maybe a touch of humility — still matters."

Since the announcement, Centene's stock has tumbled more than 40%. By market close on July 11, the stock traded at $31.44 per share, the sharpest decline of any managed care insurer during the same period.

Medicaid faces cuts

As efforts by the majority Republican federal government to cut back Medicaid advance, there is continued investor uncertainty surrounding companies such as Centene, which have significant exposure.

Medicaid plans, which are aimed at low-income families and those with certain disabilities, will face cuts to a still unknown degree after Congress passed President Donald Trump's budget bill, also referred to as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

About 10.9 million people will lose health insurance coverage nationwide by 2034 under the tax bill, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Barron's reported. The law will result in 7.8 million people losing Medicaid coverage when it goes into effect, while another 3.1 million people are expected to lose health coverage due to changes in the ACA marketplaces.

Additionally, about 400,000 individuals will lose insurance coverage due to the termination of a medical provider tax, a move opposed by some Republican leaders in Congress, The Associated Press reported.

The law includes about $3.75 trillion of tax cuts, partially offset by almost $1.3 trillion in reduced federal spending for Medicaid and food assistance.

The cuts come amid a difficult time for the managed care sector, as the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to cause difficulties on some of the largest healthcare players.

Read the full article here

Hawley Aims to Roll Back Medicaid Cuts He Voted for Just Two Weeks Ago

By Medan Mineiro, The New York Times, July 15, 2025

Senator Josh Hawley introduced legislation on Tuesday that aims to roll back some of the major changes to Medicaid made in Republicans’ sweeping policy bill, legislation that the Missouri Republican voted to pass just two weeks ago.

President Trump signed that policy bill into law on July 4 after Republican leaders successfully wrangled a handful of G.O.P. holdouts, including Mr. Hawley.

The bill included new restrictions on key strategies many states rely on to finance Medicaid, changes that could hit some Republican-led states the hardest, a recent analysis shows. Mr. Hawley is now proposing to repeal those restrictions.

His bill would also double a rural hospital fund to $100 billion, from $50 billion, and extend the fund’s life span from five years to 10. Republican leaders had agreed to include the $50 billion to assuage concerns from Mr. Hawley and other Republicans that the Medicaid cuts would shutter some remote hospitals.

“President Trump has always said we have to protect Medicaid for working people. Now is the time to prevent any future cuts to Medicaid from going into effect,” Mr. Hawley said in a statement on the bill on Tuesday. He did not take issue with a strict work requirement to qualify for Medicaid that Republicans made law through their domestic policy bill.

In what amounted to a 360-degree return to his original position opposing the Medicaid cuts that are now law, he added: “I want to see Medicaid reductions stopped and rural hospitals fully funded permanently.”

Mr. Hawley had vowed in a statement released after the Senate passed the policy bill to “continue to do everything in my power to reverse future cuts to Medicaid.” But that promise rings somewhat hollow, given that his new bill is unlikely to garner the support needed to become law.

Continued

HHS carries out mass firings across health agencies after Supreme Court decision   

By Rene Marsh, Meg Tirrell, and Tami Luhby, CNN Health, July 14, 2025

Thousands of employees across US federal health agencies received an email Monday afternoon telling them they were out of a job as of the close of business.

The firings were originally communicated April 1 for most of the included employees, but they’d been delayed as a legal battle played out. That culminated in a US Supreme Court decision July 8 that, the US Department of Health and Human Services said in the email, means the agency “is now permitted to move forward with a portion of its [reduction in force].”

“You are hereby notified that you are officially separated from HHS at the close of business on July 14, 2025,” read Monday’s notice to dismissed HHS employees, according to copies obtained by CNN. “Thank you for your service to the American people.”

“HHS previously announced our plans to transform this department to Make America Healthy Again and we intend to do just that,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in an email to CNN after the Supreme Court’s ruling last week.   

Continued

CMS to discontinue some Medicaid HCBS workforce waivers, disappointing providers   

By Adam Healy, McKnight's Home Care, July 17, 2025

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services disclosed Thursday that it will be abandoning some state Medicaid waivers that support workforce recruitment and training programs, and continuous enrollment.

CMS specifically is targeting section 1115 waivers that support initiatives like student loan repayment and training programs to help Medicaid providers recruit and retain workers for home- and community-based services (HCBS). It also is targeting programs that support continuous Medicaid enrollment for beneficiaries that may have become ineligible during their enrollment period.

Home care stakeholders were dismayed to see this change of direction.

“It is disappointing to see a retrenchment away from these types of programs, particularly given the challenging workforce environment that HCBS providers are facing right now,” Damon Terzaghi, senior director of Medicaid advocacy at the National Alliance for Care at Home, told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse Thursday in an email. “Though they were not widespread, we have seen some positive outcomes from state-led programs to support and expand the workforce.”

Most HCBS waivers spared

He noted that CMS’ new guidance does not apply to all section 1115 waivers. Many of these waiver programs support home- and community-based services, or promote beneficiaries’ access to HCBS. These and other programs largely were spared from this refocusing effort, Terzaghi noted.

“1115 waivers are very diverse and are used for a number of different applications — the Trump administration will absolutely be approving new 1115 waivers,” he said. “For example, we anticipate that many of the recent waiver requests that include earlier implementations of community engagement (work) requirements than included in the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act legislation will be approved. We also expect that 1115s with HCBS will be continued.”

Continued

Note: Medicaid HCBS workforce waivers are a key tool for states to address workforce shortages in providing care to individuals in their homes and communities. This action will only serve to increase the shortage of qualified DSPs.

RFK Jr.’s Autism Time Machine

The health secretary’s approach to the condition gives the impression that two decades of research simply never happened.

By John Donvan and Caren Zucker, The Atlantic, July 6, 2025

The annual meeting of the International Society for Autism Research is the closest autism science gets to having an Oscars moment of its own. When 2,200 experts from more than 50 countries meet up in one place—as they did this spring in Seattle—a kind of brainy excitement pervades, not just because of the awards given out (yes, awards are given out) or the chance for up-and-comers to network with top names in autism research, but also because there’s always something to celebrate in the science itself. For two decades, studies presented at INSAR have shaped the world’s understanding of autism. The buzz at the conference comes from the conviction that the work matters and that progress continues, sustained by an optimism that no nonscientist could undo.

With one possible exception: U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In April, shortly before the conference, Kennedy announced a major research undertaking. He promised that his agency would determine the cause of autism—or, at least, have “some of the answers”—by September. (He soon extended the timeline into next year.) The effort, he pledged, would employ “the most credible scientists from all over the world.”

Now here those scientists were, all in one place. But none of those we spoke with had received the call to help, nor did they expect to. In speeches and interviews as health secretary, Kennedy has made clear his disdain for mainstream autism research, brushing aside the insights gained for this tremendously complex condition through years of research. Instead, backed by the enormous power of his federal office, Kennedy now appears determined to pursue his own long-held set of theories about autism: first, that we are in the midst of an autism epidemic (which is, in fact, highly debatable); second, that autism is caused by one or more “environmental toxins” (which incorrectly suggests that environmental factors have not been explored); and third, that powerful interests want this information covered up (a conspiracy-esque viewpoint that lacks evidence).

“The way the secretary characterizes autism research,” David Amaral, the research director at the MIND Institute at UC Davis and one of INSAR’s co-founders, told us, “it’s as if nobody’s been doing anything for the last 30 years.” Amaral was one of more than a dozen veteran researchers we met with over the four-day conference, whose faces all went dark anytime we asked about the impact of Kennedy’s muscling into their domain. They have been witnessing the health secretary bend the narrative of autism science in America. Their shared assessment: What he’s doing is not good.

The problem begins, in the researchers’ view, with Kennedy’s grasp of the science, which they say he either doesn’t understand or refuses to acknowledge. For instance, Kennedy has complained that too much money has been spent studying genetic causes of autism, describing this avenue as “a dead end.” Between sessions at the conference, the geneticist Joseph Buxbaum sat with us in an empty meeting room and sketched out on a piece of cardboard the numbers and timeline that demonstrate all that’s wrong with this viewpoint. Autism’s genetic underpinnings were first uncovered through studies of twins in the 1970s. Access to the human genome has now revealed that about 80 percent of the odds of being autistic are rooted in heritability. At INSAR this year, one of the most optimistic presentations focused on the progress being made toward genetics-based treatments. “It is shocking,” Buxbaum said of Kennedy’s apparent disregard for experts’ input.

Read the full article here

New Jersey - Trump is cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid. Here’s what that means for NJ.

By Mike Hayes, Gothamist, July 17, 2025

Theresa Luoni of Basking Ridge, New Jersey is bracing for the roughly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid that President Donald Trump signed into law this month. As a single mother of twin boys with severe autism, so much of her time is committed to their care, she'd have a hard time meeting the law's new work requirements in order to still qualify for their medical and educational care once they turn 14 next year, she said.

“They require the supervision of a 2-year-old because they don't always understand danger,” Luoni said. “It's pretty stressful on a regular basis.”

New Jersey alone stands to lose $3.3 billion in federal Medicaid funding, according to the state Department of Human Services. Commissioner Sarah Adelman told Gothamist there is "no scenario" in which the state could make up the difference. Her agency estimates that 350,000 New Jerseyans will lose their health coverage under the new law.

And she said most states will struggle to meet new mandates to recertify patients' eligibility every six months instead of each year, essentially doubling their workload and potentially kicking more people off the rolls.

“It really can't be understated,” Adelman said. "The consequences here are dire.”

Luoni expects her and her sons — Dylan and Max — to be among those who lose coverage. Because of their disabilities, her sons’ health insurance and school-based services are covered under Medicaid. Both boys attend school out of district because their local public school can’t provide the services they need.

Max is Luoni’s “technology whiz.” She said he loves making and editing videos, and even taught himself some Spanish and Arabic watching YouTube. Dylan is her “biggest helper.” He’s always making sure everything is where it needs to be, she said. If there’s a chair that’s been put back at the table incorrectly, he’s the first one to straighten out its legs.

Dylan is completely nonverbal. Max is pre-verbal. He can speak a few words to people but won’t always understand their response. Because of the challenges of caring for her sons, Luoni is only able to work at most 12 hours a week at a retail store, far below the new work requirement. Under the new law, once her sons turn 14 next year, Luoni will have to meet the work requirements of 80 hours a month, which she said she’s unable to do.

“When the school calls and your kid has to be picked up or there's an emergency meeting … I'm lucky enough that my former employer is very understanding and lets me work 12 hours a week,” she said.

Even if she’s able to retain coverage for her sons somehow, having to fill out a “huge packet” of paperwork every six months to recertify feels daunting to her.

“There's no way that there won't be a reduction in services,” she said. “ It really does erase the chance for a lot of these children to have a future.”

Luoni said she’s tried to get “concrete answers” via social media, email and through phone calls to her congressional Rep. Thomas Kean Jr., a Republican who voted in favor of the bill.

Kean’s office didn’t respond to a request to be interviewed for this story. The day before Trump signed it into law on July 4, Kean issued a statement that the bill would “safeguard” Medicaid for every “intended” recipient, while “rooting out waste, fraud and abuse.”

Luoni said she’s been unable to get a response from Kean’s office on how her disabled children will be affected.

“ I think the saying is 'no response is a response.' So that means the people that were elected to take care of people like me and my children, to me, the message is they just don't care,” she said.

Continued

Idaho - Many Medicaid benefits are optional under the law. For many Idahoans, they’re anything but.

Non-mandatory benefits may be threatened with cuts to Medicaid in federal spending bill passed by Republicans in Congress, signed by Trump

By Laura Guido, The Idaho Capital Sun, July 14, 2025

Kristyn Herbert has a knack for coming up with delicious recipes in her head. But a seizure when she was a 2-day-old infant that left her not breathing for 10 minutes means that she needs someone else to prepare the food in her Meridian apartment. 

Herbert pays for her 24/7 care through Medicaid, but this type of long-term care in her home is considered an optional benefit that states may offer under federal regulations. Herbert has been living under looming uncertainty about whether the service will be taken away after Congress this month passed a federal budget reconciliation bill that is expected to cut Medicaid spending by around $1 trillion over the next decade. 

“If they cut my Medicaid, I don’t know what to do, because I won’t move into a nursing home,” she said. “I can’t have my baby (Herbert’s cat Destiny is her “baby”) and people go to nursing homes to die.” 

The sweeping tax-and-spend bill passed by Congress July 1 makes a number of changes to Medicaid, and supporters and critics argue about how those will impact those who rely on the program for health care coverage. 

Many of the bill’s supporters, including Idaho’s Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, have said the bill’s reductions will protect the program for those who it was originally intended for, including children, pregnant women, and those with disabilities. 

Crapo serves as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and played a key role in the passage of the budget bill. 

Crapo in an interview with the Idaho Capital Sun said that he considers the fear that many have expressed of people losing their Medicaid coverage is “inaccurate.” 

“The only way to prove this is to wait and see what actually happens,” he said. “But the bottom line is this, no one’s benefits were cut in this legislation, unless you are a person who is not an American citizen and not legally present in America.” 

He also noted that others will lose benefits if they don’t comply with new work requirements or if they were registered to receive payments from multiple states. 

However, the bill’s limits on what are known as provider taxes — which allow states to tax hospitals to increase the amount of money in the program and therefore increase the amount the federal government matches — have left many wondering whether, with less money in the system, states will have to reduce or cut optional Medicaid benefits to balance their budgets. 

“It gives you a bigger pot of money to draw down more, and when you reduce it, well, you’re not going to be able to draw down as much money,” said Mel Leviton, executive director of the Idaho State Independent Living Council. “I don’t see how that could not lead to cuts.”  

Idaho assesses hospitals, nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities and the amount assessed makes up the state share to draw down on federal Medicaid funding as a supplemental payment to those providers. The payment is the difference between what Medicare would have paid and what Medicaid did pay. 

Home and community based services — which allow health care workers to go into people’s homes rather than go to a residential care facility — are one of the optional services under Medicaid provided in Idaho, among many others. More than 20,000 Idahoans, including Herbert, receive some type of home and community based services, Leviton said. 

Other optional services include coverage of dental and vision care, prescription drugs, prosthetics, physical therapy, occupational therapy, respiratory care for those who rely on a ventilator, and case management. 

“It’s funny that they’re called optional benefits, because they’re not actually optional,” said Twin Falls resident Tara Rowe. 

Rowe is enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare, but Medicaid covers her physical therapy visits that go beyond what Medicare will pay for. 

“It’s pretty much essential so I can function as a human,” Rowe said. “… it means me being mobile. It means me managing chronic pain, it’s just part of how I continue to deal with chronic illness and disability.” 

Continued

New York - Hospitals slash jobs, stall growth amid Trump cuts

By Ethan Geringer-Sameth, Crain's New York Business, July 10, 2025

Stony Brook Hospital, a large safety-net in Suffolk County is facing a $55 million annual hit from new Medicaid cuts, plus another $53 million in expired funding for hospitals that serve a large portion of low-income patients.

New York hospitals are cutting staff, scaling back research and bracing for service reductions in the wake of a newly signed federal spending bill that is expected to drain $7 billion a year from the state’s health systems.

The spending package, passed by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, is already triggering layoffs and other cost-cutting at hospitals across the state, from elite academic medical centers to rural safety-net providers. The new reality has forced even the wealthiest systems to reevaluate their priorities.

“The volatility of the market hurts everybody, and all of these things are really causing an already somewhat challenging industry to be challenged further,” said Dr. Daniel Baker, executive director of Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side, in June.

At least 34,000 health care jobs are expected to disappear in New York under the new federal tax and spending package. The law slashes Medicaid funding and public insurance coverage for 1.5 million low-income New Yorkers, cancels hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research grants and threatens reimbursements to hospitals that provide gender-affirming care — a suite of changes executives say could destabilize emergency departments, specialty care and long-term expansion plans for facilities.

The Medicaid cuts are especially damaging for safety-net and rural hospitals that rely on government funds to stay afloat. While the city has few rural providers, 14 private hospitals in the metro New York area have more than a third of inpatient and outpatient services covered by Medicaid, out of 18 statewide, the state Department of Health said. In total, roughly two-thirds of hospitals in the city, Westchester and Long Island receive more than half of their revenue from government payers, according to an analysis from Greater New York Hospital Association, a trade group of hospitals and health systems in the northeast.

“I’d like to think the state will step in and help fill some of those gaps but in truth [there] could also be further reductions,” said Dr. William Wertheim, Executive Vice President of Stony Brook Medicine, which serves 25% of the Medicaid beneficiaries in Suffolk County.

Staff: The first to go

In May, New York-Presbyterian, one of the city’s most profitable health systems, laid off 1,000 employees, or about 2% of its workforce. Among them was Stella Maniquis, a nurse practitioner who had spent eight years in a neurology unit dedicated to monitoring children with epilepsy.

“I didn’t think it would be us because we’re highly specialized,” said Maniquis, who took the job at Presbyterian during Trump’s first administration.

Just one day earlier, Columbia University, an affiliate at the Irving Medical Center in Washington Heights, eliminated 180 employees, about 20% of the positions funded through research grants that had been cancelled by Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The next week, Catholic Health, a midsized health system on Long Island, said the group was laying off 1% of its staff, about 170 people, citing “unprecedented challenges facing health care.”

Unlike closing departments or selling assets, laying off staff is one of the fastest ways for a health system to build a financial cushion, according to Dr. Ge Bai, professor of accounting, health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University.

“If you want to have the biggest impact, you’re going to cut the biggest cost items, which is almost always labor,” she said.

A safety net at risk

Public and safety-net hospitals face a different set of constraints than major private systems. They rely more heavily on federal dollars and must maintain critical services, like emergency and surgical care, regardless of cost.

Stony Brook Medical Center is the only children’s hospital and pediatric emergency room in Suffolk County, a critical hub for burn, trauma, cardiac and transplant care, and one of the largest safety-net providers in the region. Now, it’s facing a $55 million annual hit from new Medicaid cuts, plus another $53 million in expired funding for hospitals that serve a large portion of low-income patients, said Wertheim. Stony Brook, part of the state university system, is also one of the biggest recipients of National Institutes of Health funding in the state; last fiscal year, it took in $65 million, according to NIH records.

To absorb the losses, Stony Brook has slowed hiring for non-clinical staff to preserve patient care, Wertheim said. But he warned that more disruption is inevitable if cuts continue at this scale.

In the city, Health and Hospitals President and CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz told the City Council he may be forced to cut specialty services like cardiology to protect emergency rooms and primary care. The 11-hospital public system expected to lose at least $300 million annually under the House version of the federal tax bill, before Senate Republicans deepened cuts. The health system did not provide an updated estimate.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers did not address the looming cuts in the $254 billion state budget passed in May, but left open the possibility of calling a special session later this year to revisit spending. Hochul has repeatedly stated that the state cannot replace all the lost funding.

Continued

California - Dr. Jessica Lee: The Fight for Medicaid-Funded Services   

"If my and other health care providers’ ability of care is consequentially limited, this will only lead to a chain of events that may place a greater burden on the American society and infrastructure."

From Families USA

Dr. Jessica Lee, a child clinical psychologist, specializes in working with neurodivergent individuals, including those with autism and ADHD. She provides therapy, evaluations and consultations as part of an interdisciplinary team for diverse, underserved youth and families. She also leads community outreach through a Department of Developmental Services (DDS) grant to support underserved racial and ethnic minority families.

Medicaid budget cuts will severely limit the care Dr. Lee can provide. “The health care provisions in the House reconciliation bill will significantly impact my ability to care for patients as most of them are covered under Medicaid/Medical/CalOptima.” She explained that Medicaid provides essential services underserved families cannot otherwise afford. “Compared to most insurance companies’ plans, Medicaid graciously increases accessibility for a variety of services that underserved families would not otherwise be able to afford.”

Jessica described how the bill will reduce access to care, “Families will no longer be able to access multiple services, thus, impacting my quality of care and limiting the services I offer.” Without access to medication and therapy, children may see slower progress and fewer treatment options. “No matter how hard we work, we may not achieve the desired outcome also due to a reduction in session quantity.”

Currently, she can provide evaluations, multiple rounds of individual therapy, and group sessions.

“Typically, as a clinical psychologist serving a family with Medicaid, I can currently provide them with a comprehensive psychological evaluation, at least 24 individual therapy sessions with options to renew, group therapy sessions for the parent/caregiver and/or the child, and/or follow up appointments.”

As cuts move forward, families might only receive an evaluation. “Families may only be able to receive the evaluation, leaving them vulnerable and feeling helpless as they most often need treatment as next steps.”

As the budget bill is implemented, she warns of system-wide consequences. “If my and other health care providers’ ability of care is consequentially limited, this will only lead to a chain of events that may place a greater burden on the American society and infrastructure.” Without Medicaid, she said, untreated conditions would grow, leading to worse health, missed diagnoses, and lost productivity. “As neurodevelopmental conditions, like ASD, are lifelong, Medicaid-funded services are crucial to supporting an individual across their lifespan.”

Read the full article here

Nebraska - A clinic blames its closing on Trump’s Medicaid cuts. Patients don’t buy it.

By Hannah Knowles, The Washington Post, July 13, 2025

The only health clinic here is shutting down, and the hospital CEO has blamed Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s signature legislation. But residents of Curtis — a one-stoplight town in deep-red farm country — aren’t buying that explanation.

“Anyone who’s saying that Medicaid cuts is why they’re closing is a liar,” April Roberts said as she oversaw lunch at the Curtis Area Senior Center.

The retirees trickling in for fried chicken and soft-serve ice cream will be hit hardest when the clinic closes this fall, Roberts fears. Seniors who sometimes go in multiple times a month to have blood drawn will have to drive 40 miles to the next nearest health center. Sick people, she worries, will put off checkups and get sicker.

Arriving for lunch, retired Navy veteran Jim Christensen said he’d read an op-ed that “tried to blame everything on Trump.”

“Horse feathers,” he said, dismissing the idea.

Curtis has become an early test case of the politics of Trump’s agenda in rural America, where voters vulnerable to Medicaid cuts in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” law are reluctant to blame the president or congressional Republicans who approved it. Many people in Curtis have directed their frustration at their hospital system instead of their representatives in Washington.

Democrats and health care advocates are pointing to the town — population 806 in the last census — as a first casualty of Republicans’ health care overhaul. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and others have referred to the town on social media as a model of what’s to come for rural hospitals around the country. Close to half of rural hospitals nationwide already lose money, and analysts expect Trump’s tax and spending law to add more strain.

Community Hospital, the nonprofit that runs the clinic known as the Curtis Medical Center and a couple of other facilities in the region, plunged into the center of that national story when it announced on July 2 — one day before the bill’s passage — that a confluence of factors had made its Curtis outpost unsustainable. It cited years-long financial challenges, inflation and “anticipated federal budget cuts to Medicaid,” the public health insurance program for lower-income and disabled Americans.

Continued

Texas - IDD non-profit Family to Family Network to close after 35 years

By Valeria Escobar, Community Impact, July 11, 2025

After more than 30 years of serving families of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or IDD, the Houston-based nonprofit Family to Family Network has announced it will permanently close due to funding shortages, officials announced in a July 9 news release.

“For many families, we were the only place they could turn,” Executive Director Mary Jane Williams said in the release. “We helped them feel seen, heard and empowered—and that impact doesn’t disappear with our closure. I hope our work inspires others to keep fighting for families who need support the most.”

About the organization

Founded in 1990, the nonprofit became a resource for thousands of Texas families navigating such as special education planning and Medicaid waivers for adults with IDD, per the release.

Williams said the organization connected with families from Katy, Cy-Fair, Houston, Klein and Spring Branch ISDs, in addition to 40 other school districts across Houston and the state.

“The organization’s impact across the Greater Houston area and Texas has been extraordinary, but despite our best efforts, we were unable to secure the long-term funding needed to sustain our work,” board Chair Bryan Smith said in the release. “Family to Family Network gave parents the tools and confidence to advocate for their children and build better futures.”

After more than 30 years of serving families of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or IDD, the Houston-based nonprofit Family to Family Network has announced it will permanently close due to funding shortages, officials announced in a July 9 news release.

“For many families, we were the only place they could turn,” Executive Director Mary Jane Williams said in the release. “We helped them feel seen, heard and empowered—and that impact doesn’t disappear with our closure. I hope our work inspires others to keep fighting for families who need support the most.”

About the organization

Founded in 1990, the nonprofit became a resource for thousands of Texas families navigating such as special education planning and Medicaid waivers for adults with IDD, per the release.

Williams said the organization connected with families from Katy, Cy-Fair, Houston, Klein and Spring Branch ISDs, in addition to 40 other school districts across Houston and the state.

“The organization’s impact across the Greater Houston area and Texas has been extraordinary, but despite our best efforts, we were unable to secure the long-term funding needed to sustain our work,” board Chair Bryan Smith said in the release. “Family to Family Network gave parents the tools and confidence to advocate for their children and build better futures.”

The context

Willams said funding shortages are due to losses in a combination of federal funding, state contracts and local grant money, adding that there was no additional funding for IDD health authorities such as The Harris Center and Texana during the 89th Texas legislative session.

Additionally, she said there were no more Medicaid waiver slots added to the current 10-to-15-year waitlist for services such as health care, job training and housing for adults with IDD, which she estimates is now 20 years long.

“The funding for any disability programs is going to be tight,” Williams said in an email. “It is a sad day when systems for individuals with IDD and autism that keep people in community are not valued as important."

Read the full article here

Vermont's Howard Center cuts programs and staff: What programs are ending

By Sydney P. Hakes, Burlington Free Press, July 14, 2025

The Howard Center is addressing years of multi-million-dollar budget deficits and rising program costs through various program and staff cuts as part of a “strategic realignment of services.” 

The Howard Center is Vermont's largest designated provider for mental health care, developmental disability programs and substance abuse disorder services, serving nearly 20,000 Vermonters at approximately 60 locations. 

Adjustments to programs and services include a reduction of 13 supportive housing beds and the closure of day programming at Westview House. The Howard Center will also consolidate substance use disorder services in Franklin and Grand Isle counties to Chittenden County. 

Additionally, 27 filled positions and 30 vacant positions will be cut. Thirteen of those positions are administrative. Hoping to limit impacts, the Howard Center said impacted employees will be offered existing positions at the organization. 

The Howard Center employs approximately 1,300 people, serving in a plethora of different ways. As a direct services organization, the Howard Center reported that more than 90% of its budget is dedicated to staff salaries and benefits. 

“Since 2021, health care costs alone have increased by 100%,” a press release from the Howard Center stated. “To manage, the organization must reduce costs by nearly $2.5 million in Fiscal Year 2026 - beginning July 1 - and achieve $3.6 million in ongoing annualized savings to stabilize operations. At times, Howard Center has had only single-digit days of operating cash on hand, prompting the need for urgent and responsible action.” 

The organization said it is committed to continuing to serve clients with minimum disruption in care, but financial headwinds are causing the center to adapt. 

Continued

Wisconsin nonprofit uncertain how Medicaid cuts will affect clients with disabilities

By Judith Ruiz-Branch, Public News Service, July 14, 2025

A Wisconsin nonprofit serving people with disabilities is waiting to hear if federal changes to Medicaid will affect their clients and caregivers, who overwhelmingly rely on the program for their health care needs.

The nonprofit CP serves about 200 people in Northeast Wisconsin that have complex physical or developmental disabilities, nearly all of whom use Medicaid to pay for their services.

Julie Tetzlaff, director of adult day services for CP, said about 75% of clients are in wheelchairs and unable to reposition themselves. She explained the exercise program CP offers is crucial to prevent patients from developing pressure sores.

"A sore on the butt costs a lot of money, anywhere from $30,000 to $150,000," Tetzlaff explained. "Once one of our clients has a pressure sore, it stays with them for a long time. So it might heal up, but they're going to be susceptible to another sore in that same area without active movement and repositioning."

She noted their program focuses on functional skills training using adaptable equipment funded through grants and community support.

Tetzlaff pointed out most of their clients are deemed to have a level of disability which could place them in a nursing home and most are poor. About half live with their parents, who she acknowledged can easily experience burn out. She added day services provide respite for these caregivers and prevent costly nursing home placements for clients.

"Looking ahead, if you have all these parent caregivers who, some of them, are on Medicaid because they're caring for somebody that's on Medicaid and they need health insurance themselves," Tetzlaff observed. "If they become more ill as well, and aren't able to care for their person, and they need long-term care - it doesn't seem like legislators have thought of that. The people that are caring for all these people, that's a big group."

Continued

Oklahoma Could Better Ensure That Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities Comply With Federal Requirements for Life Safety, Emergency Preparedness, and Infection Control         

Report from the Office of the Inspector General, US Department of Health and Human Services,

July 17, 2025

Why OIG Did This Audit

• CMS requires intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ICF/IIDs) that participate in Medicaid to comply with requirements intended to protect residents. This includes requirements related to fire safety and emergency preparedness plans. Facilities are also required to develop infection control programs.
• Oklahoma conducts surveys of ICF/IIDs to determine whether they comply with Federal requirements.
• This audit is part of a series of audits that assesses compliance with CMS’s life safety, emergency preparedness, and infection control requirements for ICF/IIDs.

What OIG Found

We identified 426 deficiencies related to life safety, emergency preparedness, and infection control at the 42 ICF/IIDs operated in Oklahoma that we reviewed. These deficiencies put residents, staff, and visitors at an increased risk of injury or death during a fire or other emergency.

Continued

Download the Full Report here



Download the Report Highlights here

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VOR SUPPORTS:

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.