March 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.

March is I/DD Awareness Month

VOR's March Networking Meeting:

Protection & Advocacy (P&A's)

Please join us for our March 24 Networking Meeting

4 pm ET, 3 pm CT, 2 pm MT, 1 pm PT

On Zoom

Our topic for this meeting is State Protection & Advocacy Agencies (P&A’s)        

Share your history with your state's P&A

Have they helped you in any way, or

have they worked against your family's interests?

Do they ever protect anyone - or do they just advocate against choice?

What can we do to hold them accountable?

For more information, please click here

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.

This is your chance to share with members of Congress about the issues that affect us, as families of individuals with I/DD and autism.

We have a limited number of hotel rooms available, at the ridiculously low price of $170 per night for a single room at the Placemakr Dupont Circle,

located in the heart of DC's historic Dupont Circle neighborhood.

Our room count is filling fast, so

Please register for the Initiative now to reserve your room

Oz Escalates Medicaid Fraud Claims Against States After Focus on Minnesota

By Bram Sable-Smith, KFF Health News, March 20, 2026

The Trump administration has signaled a willingness to halt billions of dollars in federal health payments to multiple states, mirroring moves they made against Minnesota.

The specific target is Medicaid, the public health insurance program that pairs state and federal money. Federal officials have announced unprecedented actions in Minnesota this year, declaring they could withhold over $2 billion in payments slated for the state and claw back nearly $260 million from last year.

The actions in Minnesota came as part of the administration’s declared crackdown on fraud, but critics have likened them to using a bludgeon instead of a scalpel, probably harming patients who rely on Medicaid for care but are not responsible for fraud in the program.

“It’s going to hurt a lot of people if they end up going through with this,” said Sumukha Terakanambi, a 27-year-old who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and works as a public policy consultant with the Minnesota Council on Disability.

“Of course we support going after fraud,” Terakanambi said, but “this overly aggressive action is missing the point. It’s not punishing fraudsters. It’s punishing the people.”

Longtime Medicaid observers also doubt the federal actions will achieve their purported objective.

Jocelyn Guyer, a senior managing director with the consulting firm Manatt, recently told reporters that actions of this magnitude by the federal government are unprecedented, partly because punitive measures against states have “really never been an effective way to address fraud.”

Meanwhile, fraud prosecutions have stalled in Minnesota as the U.S. attorney’s office there grapples with the exodus of nearly half its attorneys and a surge in cases from the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Despite these concerns, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services head Mehmet Oz said the techniques the federal government is using in Minnesota could be applied to other states, and he has launched social media campaigns alleging high-dollar public benefit fraud in California, Florida, Maine, and New York. And a February release of incomplete Medicaid data by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency appears to be part of a campaign to paint the program as riddled by fraud, Guyer said.

A ‘Political Football’

Scrutiny of Minnesota’s public benefit programs began early in the Biden administration, years before the most recent investigations. The spotlight on the state’s Medicaid system grew after FBI raids targeting two autism treatment providers in December 2024.

The following May, an investigation by a Minneapolis TV station into Medicaid housing stabilization services in Minnesota prompted further scrutiny from federal prosecutors, and from Gov. Tim Walz.

Under the Democratic governor, the state launched investigations into 85 autism providers, ordered a third-party audit of 14 types of Medicaid services deemed to be “high-risk” for fraud, and delayed payments for those services for up to 90 days. Many of the services are ones people with disabilities receive at home, making them more difficult to monitor.  

In December, one man was found dead after losing his in-home care services amid the crackdown.

“We’re losing sight of the people that have done nothing wrong, that rely on these supports and services to live in the community,” said Sue Schettle, chief executive of ARRM, a Minnesota nonprofit that represents organizations supporting people with disabilities. “It becomes a political football.”

Schettle said she took her concerns about the crackdown to state officials, who have since met routinely with her and other advocates. The subsequent federal actions, however, have left her “shell-shocked,” she said.

The ‘Nuclear Option’

In December, a video posted by a conservative YouTuber, with help from state Republicans, supercharged the issue in Minnesota, alleging widespread fraud in child care centers owned by members of the Somali community. A follow-up state investigation of the child care centers that were featured in the video determined that all were “operating as expected.”

On Jan. 6, CMS’ Oz sent Walz a letter alleging Minnesota’s Medicaid program was out of compliance with federal rules on fraud, waste, and abuse, setting the stage for the Trump administration’s move to withhold over $2 billion in federal Medicaid funds to Minnesota this year, about 18% of what the state received the year before.

Minnesota is appealing.

The Republican-aligned Paragon Health Institute, a think tank that recently published a policy brief calling for similar enforcement actions across the country, applauded the federal moves.

“That will spur states to take necessary action, thus ensuring that Medicaid funds go to those who are truly eligible,” said Chris Medrano, a legal research analyst who co-authored the brief.

Georgetown’s Schneider questioned the necessity and effectiveness of withholding the money.

“I don’t see any relationship between that and actually reducing fraud against the Minnesota Medicaid program, given the state has already taken a lot of action,” he said.

In late February, Oz went further, announcing that on top of withholding $2 billion in future payments to Minnesota, the administration was also “deferring” about $260 million in federal Medicaid payments to the state.

“We have notified the state that we will give them the money, but we are going to hold it and only release it after they propose and act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem,” Oz said at a Feb. 25 news conference with Vice President JD Vance.

Minnesota is challenging the deferment in court.

“We’re waiting for feedback from CMS on our corrective action plan, which is why we were surprised and confused when Dr. Oz said in a news conference with the vice president last week that we needed to provide one,” Minnesota Medicaid director John Connolly said at a March 3 news briefing.

‘Another Minnesota’

Oz and Vance both said during the February news conference that they are not specifically targeting Democratic-led states. Oz noted Florida has a “big fraud problem” and in mid-March sent a letter to state officials with a list of questions about their Medicaid program. Until then, the letters and most of Oz’s social media videos had been limited to California, Maine, and New York, all led by Democrats.

“We might have another Minnesota on our hands,” Oz said in a video posted the same day as a letter sent to Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, requesting information on how the state was addressing Medicaid fraud.

“And if we’re not satisfied with their progress, we reserve the right to cut off payments entirely,” Oz said in the video.

The video and letter were prompted by a federal audit of autism services in Maine that found the state had made at least $45.6 million in improper Medicaid payments. Similar audits in Indiana, Wisconsin, and Colorado had comparable findings.

In a statement, Mills called Oz’s letter a “pretense to send ICE and other weaponized federal agents into states led by Democrats.”

Many states are looking to reduce or even eliminate funding for home care services over much smaller budget shortfalls. And further cuts are anticipated, with congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law last year, expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $900 billion over the next decade.

“People will die,” Terakanambi said. “People will lose critical supports and will no longer be able to participate in their community the way they want to.”

Read the full article here

As Trump administration cracks down on health care fraud, people with disabilities feel singled out

By O. Rose Broderick, STAT, March 18, 2026

Efforts to ‘crush’ fraud in Medicare and Medicaid will leave disabled Americans with fewer services, advocates worry

The Trump administration has zeroed in on its next target: ending health care fraud.

President Trump announced Monday the creation of a task force devoted to ending fraud, waste, and abuse in all federal benefits. On Tuesday, the administration expanded its Medicare and Medicaid fraud probe to Republican-led Florida.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services head Mehmet Oz — a former television star — has become the administration’s face, publishing numerous videos, social media posts and regulations that tout the agency’s commitment to crushing fraud in hospice, home health, durable medical equipment, and other industries. In January, CMS threatened to withhold roughly $2 billion in funding for 14 Medicaid services in Minnesota for the next year.

To the disability community, the crackdown feels less like the administration is rooting out crime and more like it is using fraud as an excuse to cut critical services — especially after the administration’s tax bill last year that slashed Medicaid funding by $1 trillion over 10 years, forcing state health officials to consider ending critical services like home care for millions of people.

Advocates worry that broadly targeting state Medicaid funding, like in Minnesota, will risk people’s lives. More than a quarter of Americans have a disability, and many of them require the home care, wheelchairs, autism therapy, and nonemergency transportation that have been targeted by CMS. 

“Access to Medicaid [home and community-based services] is a matter of life, death, and independence for millions of Americans with disabilities, older adults, and their families and loved ones. We strongly oppose the overly broad actions CMS is taking to freeze funding for Medicaid HCBS services in Minnesota and the threats to freeze funding for services across the country,” wrote representatives from the Disability and Aging Collaborative and the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities. The groups represent nearly 200 organizations that advocate for people with disabilities and aging populations.

Disability rights organizations packed a House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing on Tuesday to protest the broad brush health officials are painting in their hunt for fraud. Two people wearing black shirts that said, “Medicaid cuts will kill,” flanked Kim Brandt, CMS deputy administrator and chief operating officer, as she answered questions about the agency’s tactics for tackling fraud and explained how it has used new artificially intelligent algorithms to stop over $2.1 billion in purportedly fraudulent payments.

“Crushing fraud is not simply about recovering funds after the fact,” said Brandt. “It’s about preventing harm, preserving trust, ensuring that these programs remain strong for current and future generations.”

Committee chairman Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.) suggested fraud is “running rampant,” while Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas) said that “thieves are making way with the taxpayer dollars.” But experts say there are no reliable measures of fraud in Medicaid or Medicare. Some of the eye-popping numbers cited by the Trump administration — the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General recently reported $285.2 million in overpayments for autism therapy in Colorado — are not necessarily fraud, but improper or potentially improper payments, which can be the result of missing documentation and not necessarily the work of “thieves.”

State and federal officials also have long-standing programs to look at the existence of health care fraud. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General reported more than 1,100 convictions and $1.4 billion in recoveries in fiscal year 2024. 

“Any dollar that’s lost fraudulently for [Home and Community Based Services] is a dollar that doesn’t make its way to someone in need,” said Kendra Davenport, CEO and president of Easterseals, a nonprofit that provides services like home care around the nation. “So we certainly want there to be less fraud, and we recognize there probably is some fraud, but we really take umbrage with broad accusations of fraud, waste, and abuse, you know, because we think they undermine programs that so many millions of Americans rely on.”

Brandt spent much of the hearing talking about why the best way to prevent fraud was to move away from the “pay and chase” approach to a more aggressive “stop and cop” approach, in which fraudulent payments are canceled before they go out the door. She touted a “really cool series of algorithms” that, “much like Netflix tells you what movie to watch, it tells us these are high-risk people you want to keep an eye on.” 

Brandt didn’t explain how these algorithms work, or what factors are taken into account by the algorithm to flag something as high risk.” Minnesota, California, New York, and now Florida have received notice that they are or could be investigated for fraud abuse. Brandt said other states will receive similar inquiries from CMS.

Read the full article here (You may have to sign up for a free account)

Watch the House Committee on Enegy and Commerce Hearing here

(The hearing is not as long as it looks - there is an hour- long recess in the middle)

Unfounded Fraud Allegations Threaten Vital Medicaid Home And Community-Based Services

By Jane Tavares, Alison Barkoff, Sara Rosenbaum, and Marc A. Cohen, Health Affairs, March 16, 2026   

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has just announced a major crackdown on Medicaid fraud, including the deferral of more than $250 million in federal Medicaid funds owed to Minnesota as well as an intent to withhold future funds exceeding $500 million per quarter. CMS has opened investigations into several other states’ Medicaid programs, citing potential fraud in Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), the services that help people with disabilities and older adults live in their own homes and communities instead of in nursing homes or other institutions. Just days before the CMS announcement, a policy commentary coauthored by the former White House health policy lead in the first Trump Administration characterized HCBS as particularly vulnerable to fraud, citing rapid spending growth and arguing that services delivered in individuals’ homes present heightened oversight challenges compared to services delivered in institutional settings.

Everyone would agree that, just as is true for all public and private health insurance programs, fraud prevention is essential in Medicaid, which finances care for more than 80 million Americans and accounts for nearly one-third of total state expenditures. Safeguarding public funds is an important shared federal-state obligation. But the tools to fight fraud must be effective and precise, especially when applied to HCBS, which is critical to the safety and independence of disabled people and older adults—the very populations CMS claims to be focused on protecting. CMS’s framing of HCBS as inherently suspect suggests that in-home care lacks effective guardrails. This completely overlooks the fact that furnishing care in home and community settings has been a Medicaid program feature for decades.

Indeed, withdrawing support for HCBS and pursuing sweeping structural changes without clear evidence of systemic fraud jeopardizes services that have become foundational to our country’s modern long-term care system. It would undo more than 40 years of bipartisan federal policy designed to rebalance that system away from institutional care toward less restrictive care provided in the homes and communities where disabled people and older adults want—and have a civil right—to live.

Fraud is a serious issue, and it cuts across all health care programs and all types of services. The real issue is whether current federal actions represent a reasonable response to the problem. A look back at the history of HCBS demonstrates that its growth is not, in fact, evidence of massive undetected fraud, but rather is based on decades of federal policy response to major demographic change, guided by national civil rights priorities and implemented with strict fiscal guardrails.

Continued

Personal Testimony: Health Care Cuts Threaten Lifeline for Americans with Disabilities

Editorial from Protect Our Care, March 18, 2026

During this Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, millions of Americans with developmental disabilities and their families are confronting a growing threat as Republican attacks on Medicaid and other health coverage are putting the health care they rely on in jeopardy. Donald Trump and Republicans slashed over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), ripping coverage from more than 15 million people and forcing rural hospitals to close, all to give massive tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. On top of that, they ended the health care tax credits that helped nearly 22 million families afford coverage.

As a result, people with developmental disabilities are losing access to the services that make everyday life easier, from doctor’s visits and prescription medications to therapies and home- and community-based services. These cuts aren’t just numbers on a page. They are a direct threat to the health, independence, and dignity of millions of Americans with developmental disabilities, their families, and the caregivers who support them. For millions of families, the loss of these services is nothing less than a crisis.

Bradley Ledgerwood, Arkansan with Cerebral Palsy

• “Living with cerebral palsy, I often refer to my caregivers as my ‘hands and feet.’ That’s because while I have a perfectly sound mind, my body is far from it. Doing something as simple as typing these words – let alone eating, going to the bathroom or any other physical activity to take care of myself – can be an immense challenge that requires 24/7 support.”
• “While demand for these programs has grown in recent years, recent federal cuts to Medicaid are undermining them, potentially forcing folks like me around the country into nursing homes. This is happening despite the fact that home care is not just the preferred option for most people, it’s also the more cost-effective one.”

Stephanie Walters, Meridian, ID, Daughter, Shelby, has Cerebral Palsy

• “The loss of funding for Shelby’s day program and for the care she receives at home would be devastating for both of her and her mother. ‘I’d probably have to quit my job. I need to make sure she can spend time with friends and her boyfriend, but she would still be more socially isolated,’ Walters said. ‘I’d have to get some kind of job where I can work from home so I could still pay the mortgage, for groceries, and everything else in this terrible economy.’”

Julia Tilley, Harrisburg, PA, Daughter has Autism

• “‘There’s really no way to prepare for it,’ Tilley said. ‘I mean, how do you suddenly come up with $15,000 more a year? My husband can’t work more because he has a head injury. I work full-time time taking care of my daughter. It’s not like I can go get another job. So we’re stuck.’”
• “‘My daughter’s everything is funded through Medicaid,’ Tilley said. ‘Her medical insurance, her speech therapy, the physical therapy, her counseling, her medications. She’s on seven different medications a day. And my pay is funded through Medicaid. So that in and of itself is very precarious. There’s just no way that we could ever afford all of the services that she requires.’”

Robyn Stanicki, Unity, ME, Son, Evan, has Autism

• “Stanicki said she received a letter in January that her 14-year-old son, Evan, who is diagnosed with autism, will no longer be eligible for MaineCare. Each week, Evan receives around 16 hours of behavioral health therapy, which Stanicki says is only available through MaineCare. She said she does not know why her son lost eligibility.”
• “‘Honestly we would probably fall apart,’ she wrote in a text message. ‘I would be trying to find loopholes or do anything to get back on MaineCare, up to and including taking a job at McDonald’s for the minimum amount of time that I would need to work to get under the qualifying threshold.’”
• 
  

Amber Grant, ID, Son, Matty, has Cerebral Palsy, Son, Luke, has Autism and Epilepsy

• “Grant said keeping up with the family’s house payments will be nearly impossible if they lose that income, and she said it seems like only a matter of time before some or all of her sons’ in-home care is disrupted. […] ‘We just hold our breath every legislative session,’ Grant said. ‘I feel like I’m always trying to prove their worth, to prove their value, and it’s exhausting.’”

Susan Llewellyn, ID, Sons, Jordan and Kade, have Autism

• “Llewellyn retired from her job at Bonner General Health in Sandpoint to care for her sons, who are now 25 and 23. ‘Caring for both boys is a full-time job,’ she said. That care has been made possible through home and community-based services, which provide opportunities for Medicaid members to receive services in their own homes or communities rather than in institutions or other isolated settings.”

Victoria McMullen, MO, Son has Cerebral Palsy and Autism

• “McMullen said the program allows her husband to be compensated when care staff aren’t available for their 46-year-old son, who has cerebral palsy and autism. ‘Our point is to make legislators know, ‘This is not the service to cut, because it will cost you more in the end,’ McMullen said.”

Kathy Fieber, CO, Son, Ben, has Down Syndrome and Autism

• “They get by because Ben receives what are called “long-term services and supports” from the Medicaid program, intended to help adults with severe disabilities live in group homes or with family.”
• “‘Why are we balancing the budget on the most needy people?’”

Lorri Avery, CO, Caregiver for her daughter, Avery

• “‘I think it’s sad that we’re making cuts on the backs of significant disabilities because I think that’s going to end up costing the state more money,’ said Lorri Avery.”
• “Lorri worries about other disabled adults if their families cannot absorb the loss that would come with reductions in the money the state pays to help with care. ‘A lot of them have no support systems, both caretaking or financial,’ said Avery. ‘Some of them will end up on the streets. Some will not get the medical care that they need or will not or the love and care they need at home.’”
• 
  

Cindy Colwell, CO, Son, Wyatt, has Cerebral Palsy

• “‘We’re not asking for more we’re saying we’ll do the hard work for what you’re giving us, even though it is an underfunded waiver, but don’t cut more like we’re all just in survival mode.’ The mothers say reduced support services directly impact their quality of life and ability to maintain their caregiving responsibilities. ‘Our worlds just get smaller and smaller the more you take away from the support,’ Colwell said.”
• 
  

Holly Richards, CO, Caregiver for her son, Ethan

• “‘I don’t have that extra energy to put on anything else but what is happening with my son,’ Richards said. ‘Nobody really knows what goes on inside my home and the heartbreak that I deal with every day, the heartbreak of knowing that my child will never have a normal life.’”

Read the full article here

Connecticut - ‘Unbelievably cruel’: Advocates decry threat to home care program

By Laura Tillman and Katy Golvala, CT Mirror, March 15, 2026

Alexi and Lorra Jorden love the personal care attendants who come to their home to assist Alexi with a range of daily activities.

Many mornings, one of Alexi’s PCAs helps him brush and floss his teeth and get dressed. Then they prepare a meal and help Alexi, who has multiple disabilities including profound autism, learn to use his “talker” communication device.

Two of the attendants are biomedical students at the University of Connecticut who study speech and language, making them deeply interested in Alexi’s progress with the tool. Even more important, according to Lorra, they are a good match for her son’s joyful, bubbly personality.

But the state program that allows the Jordens and other qualifying families to access this at-home care, called Community First Choice, is under threat.

Gov. Ned Lamont has proposed ending Community First Choice, which offers people a greater amount of autonomy in choosing and managing their care. Instead, Lamont has proposed transitioning people to home- and community-based “waiver” programs that are not as flexible and often have long waiting lists.

Community First Choice and waiver programs are both paid for through Medicaid, which covers long-term care for those who require it, and it’s a big part of the state’s Medicaid budget.

Unlike CFC, the number of people who can participate in waiver programs is capped, meaning people can often wait years before receiving the care they want, leaving them in the care of their loved ones.

But a key difference is that waivers have higher income limits than traditional Medicaid. CFC does not — traditional Medicaid requirements apply.

Enrollment in CFC has never been capped. Anyone who qualifies can sign up.

Families like the Jordens are confused, worried and angry about why the governor would eliminate a program they say is working well and saving the state money.

“For the governor to even propose cutting this program is just unbelievably cruel,” Lorra said. “The legislature should just throw it back in his lap and say, ‘No.'” 

Continued

Idaho - ‘It Takes A Toll.’ What Happened To Families When Caregiver Pay Was Lost

By Becca Savransky, Idaho Statesman via Diability Scoop, March 17, 2026

Trixy Wade looks adoringly at her 10-year-old daughter and tells her to “smile for daddy.” Harper instantly lights up.

It’s who she is, Wade said. She brings joy to everyone. Harper likes listening to Christmas music year-round and going on walks outside in her stroller. She’s nonverbal but communicates in her own ways. And she needs full-time care.

Harper was born at 1.5 pounds and has brain damage that caused cerebral palsy and affected all of her limbs, Wade said. She can’t move on her own and is on continuous feeds into her jejunum, a part of her small intestine. She experiences seizures, scoliosis and other medical complexities. When she wakes up in the morning, she’s stiff after not having moved all night and needs help stretching. She has to be moved throughout the day, and has therapies to help her lift her head to keep her airway open and learn finer skills, like grasping. She doesn’t always remember to swallow, and has exercises to prevent her from aspirating.

A few years ago, Wade’s husband left his job and became Harper’s full-time caregiver. Harper qualifies for personal care services under Medicaid, and at the time, the state allowed parents and spouses to be paid to care for their family members with disabilities — a responsibility that can make it difficult to work. It wasn’t a lot of money, but it meant he could stay home with her while Wade worked during the days. In the evenings, they could spend time as a family.

But in July, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare ended the program. Since then, Wade’s husband has taken a night job while Wade works days. One of them is always on shift. It has meant more time away from each other and less support.

“We just kind of cross paths every once in a while,” Wade told the Idaho Statesman in her Nampa home. “It used to be like in the evening, I come home from work, you had him to still lean on if you just had a bad day or were tired. You don’t have that anymore. It’s all on you. So it takes a toll.”

Earlier this month, Wade got a glimpse of hope.

Lawmakers introduced a bill she and other families had long been working on to restore the program with some parameters in place. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, and Rep. Marco Erickson, R-Idaho Falls, would direct the Department of Health and Welfare to take the steps required to reinstitute the program. Rubel said the program is “desperately important” for families whose children have disabilities that require high levels of care. For many families, day care is not an option, and a workforce shortage and low pay make it nearly impossible to find someone willing and able to provide in-home care.

“These families are up the creek essentially at the rate that the state is paying right now,” Rubel told the Statesman. “There is no possible way of getting care to come into the homes.”

Since the program ended, families like Wade lost an essential source of income — but their children still need care. For some families, that means they’ve had to find night jobs. Rubel said some fear having to live in their cars.

“These families have tried and tried and tried with no success whatsoever, to get somebody to show up, and nobody is coming to help them,” Rubel said. “They can’t go to work. They can’t leave their house. They can’t buy groceries. They have to be there all the time, and the state cut off the payment to the families.”

Although the bill comes with a fiscal note, which explains an expected cost, Rubel said this program actually saves the state money. Families are willing to do this work for little money, and without it, she worries Idaho could face lawsuits that would force the state to shell out far more money to ensure these families receive the help and care they’re entitled to.

“Family members are willing to do the work for $15 an hour, and if instead, the state got to pay the $25 an hour that it would take to get someone else to show up, it would cost us a whole lot more money,” she told House Health and Welfare committee members.

Continued

(or, you may read the full article at the Idaho Statesman, here)

Idaho Medicaid disability budget cuts shelved in Senate committee

By Kyle Pfannenstiel, Idaho Capitol Sun, March 16, 2026

Idaho senators on Monday delayed a bill that calls for nearly $22 million in budget cuts to Medicaid disability services. 

The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted to hold House Bill 863 in committee subject to the call of the chair. The bill, which is sponsored by the committee’s chairwoman, Sen. Julie VanOrden, R-Pingree, calls for $21.8 million in cuts to pay rates for residential habilitation providers. Last week, the Idaho House widely passed the bill, which is the Legislature’s response to Gov. Brad Little’s call for $22 million in Medicaid cuts. 

The committee’s vote means the bill could return if VanOrden calls for it. 

The decision came after Republican Sens. Brian Lenney and Josh Keyser said they’d support fully rejecting the bill. Keyser said the cuts should be coming from Medicaid expansion.

“Real fiscal conservatism would find the $21.8 million somewhere else that doesn’t involve breaking a promise we made to the people caring for Idaho’s most vulnerable citizens,” Lenney said. 

To balance the state’s budget, the Legislature has pursued deeper, across-the-board cuts to state spending. But the budget committee has exempted Medicaid from those extra cuts. In the governor’s list of Medicaid cut options, he listed several disability services — but not Medicaid expansion. 

The bill would cut Medicaid disability providers’ pay rates

The bill for Medicaid disability cuts lacks a clear mechanism for the cuts, which are meant to come by reducing pay raises for providers that the Legislature approved in 2022. Those raises were meant to expand services and use a new budget tool, which didn’t end up happening because of a court order in the KW v. Armstrong lawsuit, the bill’s fiscal note says.

Cuts could subject state to more legal risk, attorney says

At Monday’s committee hearing, several program participants and providers testified against the bill. No one testified in favor.

Ritchie Eppink, the lead attorney in the KW v. Armstrong lawsuit, told lawmakers that the cuts could open the state to more litigation risks. 

Depending on the cuts’ impacts, Eppink told lawmakers that Idahoans with developmental disabilities “get to choose whether to enforce the settlement agreement against the state or go back into litigation and ignore that settlement agreement.”

Eppink said they aren’t sure the cuts will even end up saving money.

“Any of these cuts don’t actually affect individual budgets; people still have to be able to access these funds. So even beyond the false premises in the legislative findings, I don’t believe this bill, to the extent it assumes a $21.8 million cut, is actually going to save that money in the end,” they said. 

Teton Supported Living Owner Jodi New said the bill’s statement of purpose misdescribes why the raises were implemented. She said the raises were to deal with staff shortages, not the lawsuit. 

The reimbursement rate increases helped her raise pay rates from $12 an hour to $16 an hour, she told the committee. 

“We fully support this audit, and every provider I talked to is happy for this audit. But cutting our pay … 10% is going to put us out of business,” New said. 

A person on the services prayed ‘they make the right decision’

Before Katie Hodges got residential habilitation services, she told lawmakers she was institutionalized — in jails, prisons and hospitals. 

She used to be violent, she said. She said the state was inspired to pass a law by her, she said, to place people with dangerous mental illness in a secure facility. 

“Ever since I was a kid, I never made it longer than six months in the community. Until now,” Hodges said. “I am now in the community. I have a driver’s license, a new car, my own place, and a job. And I’m a cat mom.”

She read a prayer and asked lawmakers to not make the cuts.

“Lord, I pray that they make the right decision. And that whatever that may be, that you give them wisdom and that you give them the help they need to help people with disabilities all over Idaho,” Hodges said. “Thank you, God. Amen.”

Read the full article here

Indiana - State scraps managed care for Medicaid’s LTC patients   

By Kimberly Marselas, McKnights Long-Term Care News, March 15, 2026

One of at least 24 states that gave control of institutional long-term care to private insurance companies is walking away from the failed experiment.

Indiana Gov. Michael Braun (R) on Thursday signed into law a change that will move nursing home patients out of the Medicaid managed care program after 100 days. They’ll return to a Fee-for-Service model, which was used to cover long-term care before the state launched its PathWays for Aging managed care program in 2024.

The program has allowed Humana, Elevance Health and United Health Care to oversee Medicaid coverage for approximately 117,000 Hoosiers, about 21,000 of them residing in nursing homes.

But two of the providers were quickly placed on corrective action plans over billing, claims processing and contract violations. Last year, nursing homes alone were owed more than $100 million in late and inappropriately denied Medicaid payments.

“We thought there was just a significant savings to be had,” said Indiana Health Care Association President Paul Peaper, who looked to pre-COVID changes to New York’s managed Medicaid program to build an argument for reform.

“There is no care to manage for a long-stay resident,” Peaper told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Friday. “We had one of our members testify in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Her average long-stay resident has five to seven comorbidities. A managed care company is not going to do anything for that individual except extract their profit margin out of it.”

Lessons for other states

Aside from New York, no states appear to have made major revisions to who is covered by their managed Medicaid programs. Minnesota Gov. Mike Walz (D), however, this week proposed ending managed Medicaid in his state, where it’s been in place since the 1980s.

By the end of 2023, 24 states had specifically put managed care organizations in charge of their long-term services and supports programs, according to The National Academy for State Health Policy. That think tank noted that, like Indiana, many states sought to use the programs to increase access to home and community-based services and promote care coordination.

But in Indiana, plans didn’t deliver on that either. Peaper said the insurers had just 400 care coordinators for 117,000 beneficiaries. A survey of covered assisted living residents — who might have benefited more from care coordination than nursing home residents — found just 52% said they didn’t know their insurer and had never been contacted.

As providers in other states look to achieve similar changes, Peaper encouraged them to collect data to enhance their arguments. One key to change in Indiana was the fact that the managed care organizations had run costs above budget by more than $300 million.

The association commissioned an independent study by consulting firm CLA that found that Indiana paid $91 million more for nursing home stays under Pathways than it would have under the previous model. Skilled nursing overruns accounted for about one-third of the overage, at just 18.5% of population.

Peaper said he believes advocacy efforts also worked because skilled nursing providers were open to maintaining some role for short-stay residents, who might still benefit from plan intervention. IHCA also acknowledged the pressure on the state to experiment with reducing costs, given an expanding Medicaid population.

“In their defense, this isn’t unique to Indiana. Everyone’s Medicaid budgets are growing. If you are met with the promise of managed care and think it will be able to hold the line, the lawmakers are willing to give it a shot,” Peaper said, lauding his state legislators for recognizing the needle wasn’t moving. 

“Is there a role for a managed care product for somebody who is truly that home-bound individual? Sure,” he added. “But when you’re in an institutional setting, when you’re in the care of one of our members, there’s not care to be managed by a managed care entity.That is the work of our great teams and clinicians.”

Read the full article here

New Jersey - Paul Aronsohn, former Disability Ombudsman, is Kim’s new state director

By Joey Fox, New Jersey Globe, March 20, 2026

Paul Aronsohn, a disability rights advocate who has held roles in local, state, and federal government, is Senator Andy Kim’s new state director.

In the early days of former Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration, Aronsohn was named as New Jersey’s first-ever Ombudsman for Individuals with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities and Their Families, a role focused on helping New Jerseyans with disabilities access services and support. Under President Joe Biden, Aronsohn served on the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

Aronsohn replaces Sue Altman, who stepped down from the state director position after just over a year in order to run for an open New Jersey House seat. Altman, a former state director of the progressive Working Families Party, had been among the first hires Kim announced upon winning his Senate seat in 2024.

“I’ve asked [Paul] to serve as my State Director because I want to build something different,” Kim said in a statement. “I want to build the strongest constituent service operation in the country and a team that will focus on solving problems for Jersey families, not for the powerful and well-connected.”

Prior to joining state government in 2018, Aronsohn was a local elected official in Ridgewood, serving as the village’s mayor from 2012 to 2016 and as a councilman for several years before that. He was the Democratic nominee for Congress against Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) in 2006, and spent his early career working for Gov. Jim McGreevey, President Bill Clinton, and the U.S. State Department. He also worked for eight years as a public affairs executive at Pfizer.

Aronsohn, 59, said that his three siblings all lived with “a different range of disabilities,” prompting him to become involved in disability advocacy.

“I’ve always believed in the idea that you can better judge the character of a society by how it treats the vulnerable and struggling among us rather than those who are most successful and advantaged,” Kim said. “In Paul, I met someone who isn’t interested in the theater of politics but is instead driven by a deeply personal mission of public service that is too rare these days.”

Read the full article here

Georgia - Man with severe autism spent 19 days in jail after escaping group home 

By Andy Pierrotti, WAFB-9 News, March 18, 2026

A 27-year-old man who was diagnosed with severe autism spent 19 days in a Clayton County jail after escaping from his state-contracted group home — an outcome disability advocates say should never have happened.

Casey Christopher is a ward of the Georgia Department of Human Services. For nearly a decade, he has lived in a state-contracted group home operated by Bright Star Homes & Services, a provider contracted by the state to care for people with developmental disabilities.

A pattern of escapes

Christopher ran away from the group home dozens of times over the years. In each prior instance, police returned him to his caregivers.

In May 2025, an earlier investigation uncovered that Christopher had wandered away multiple times. Less than a month after that story aired, he escaped again.

Body camera footage from June 5, 2025, shows a Clayton County officer responding to yet another incident.

“We just trying to figure out how this continues to happen because this is the third time that I know of and I know it’s been several times before,” the officer said.

Arrest and jailing

Six days later, on June 11, 2025, police found Christopher missing again. This time, instead of returning him to his group home, officers took him to the Clayton County Jail.

Body camera footage captured an officer telling Christopher, “You’ll probably be out later on afternoon, back in time to watch TV with everybody else.”

He was not released that afternoon. Court records show Christopher was held on a failure to appear charge related to a misdemeanor assault allegation against a Bright Star employee.

He remained in jail for 19 days.

While behind bars, a judge dismissed the case, ruling Christopher incompetent to stand trial.

‘The provider would be responsible’

Rena Harris of the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities said the responsibility for ensuring Christopher made his court date fell to his provider, not to him

“The provider is responsible for making sure he gets to his appointments, so the provider would be responsible,” Harris said.

Harris said Christopher should not have been held accountable for missing the hearing.

“Casey should not have been held responsible for missing the court date because he couldn’t have gotten himself there in the first place,” she said.

Release and family reunion

When Christopher was released from jail, a DHS representative did not pick him up; his family did.

His mother, Shirley Christopher, said the reunion was emotional.

“It was beautiful,” she said. “Because I was so worried about him. All I could do was hold him.”

Casey Christopher described his time behind bars simply: “It was no fun at all.”

Shirley Christopher said she has been trying to regain custody of her son for years. She said a judge placed him in the state’s care roughly a decade ago after he repeatedly ran away from her home. Since returning to her, she said he has not left her side.

“They have failed my son. He wasn’t safe,” she said. “I have no doubt that my son needs to be with his family. That’s what he wants.”

Continued

Georgia mom says DFCS failed her severely autistic son. An independent investigation agreed.

By Ciara Cummings, Atlanta News First, March 19, 2026

A metro Atlanta mother who says she was physically attacked by her severely autistic teenage son is now fighting back against the state agency she accuses of failing her family. Now, an independent investigation has sided with her.

Tracie (last name withheld) said her 15-year-old son, Jonathan, who has severe autism and a documented history of violent behavior, punched her in the chest during a recent incident. “His first landing come and hit my arm,” she said, describing the attack. “That punch came down into my center chest.”

The family first came to public attention in February 2025, when an Atlanta News First investigation revealed Jonathan was involved in a Fulton County police standoff after he broke into a business and threatened to harm others and himself.

Charges against Jonathan were eventually dismissed. A senior judge unrelated to this case suggested it likely stemmed from the teen not having the mental capacity to understand the charges. The decision frustrated Tracie, who said the juvenile court failed to hold her son accountable. 

Tracie also accused the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) of failing to provide proper mental and behavioral health resources, including a specialized residential facility. She further alleged that on a phone call with DFCS, staff threatened to charge her with “abandonment” following the SWAT standoff.

Feeling she had no options, Tracie filed to voluntarily give up her parental rights. She has since revoked that voluntary filing, officially deciding to retain her parental rights.

“I realized I am my son’s strongest advocate,” Tracie said. “I am his mom. I’m the one who knows him inside and out, and if I can’t stand up for my child, why would I expect anyone else to?” 

DFCS violated six state policies related to providing individualized services and referrals for treatment. The OCA stated in the review that DFCS “admitted that the case manager did not work [Jonathan’s] case.”

When asked for additional comment on this investigation, the OCA said it can’t comment beyond what was issued in its report due to confidentiality requirements.

“DFCS holds parents accountable, as they should, and nails them against the wall for things like neglect,” the mom said. “Who holds DFCS accountable?”

The OCA cannot enforce change or impose penalties against DFCS, but only issue recommendations. However, Tracie said that shortly after the OCA’s review, DFCS agreed to place Jonathan in a specialized facility for treatment.

“They neglected my son,” she said, adding the investigation supported this, “and yet nothing was done about it. I don’t believe that’s OK.” 

Jonathan is now placed at a residential facility in Brunswick, Georgia, where he is expected to remain for approximately one year. “DHS/DFCS is bound by both state and federal law to protect the privacy of the people we serve. As such, we are unable to comment on the specifics of any reported abuse or neglect cases,” a DFCS spokesperson said. “We take seriously every report that might be made to the agency and work with law enforcement when appropriate to ensure the safety of Georgia’s children.”

State lawmakers recently established a study committee to review alleged “abandonment” cases like Tracie’s and are considering whether changes in state law could help families in similar situations. 

Read the full article here

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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.6766 / S.3492 - Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) - Essential Caregivers Act - To amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to require skilled nursing facilities, nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities for the intellectually disabled, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities to permit essential caregivers access during any period in which regular visitation is restricted.

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. 

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