Officials from the Healey administration in Massachusetts have attempted to allay fears about the upcoming Trump administration and potential federal threats that could impact disabled people’s Medicaid coverage.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to increase his tax cuts when he takes office again this year. Some conservatives have suggested Medicaid cuts to reduce federal expenditure. Medicaid costs taxpayers over $800 billion every year, and many people with disabilities rely on the insurance for their treatment.
Additionally, Project 2025 — led by the Heritage Foundation and written by many conservatives who worked in or with incoming President Donald Trump’s administration — calls for eliminating or reducing federal oversight of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Trump says Project 25 is not a blueprint for his second term.
“Following the November election, many in our community are feeling scared and vulnerable,” Maura Sullivan, president of the Arc of Massachusetts, a disability advocacy organization, said during a webinar last week.
Members of Healey’s administration who attended the Arc event said they understood people’s concerns and were determined to safeguard people with disabilities, but they also noted that dismantling Medicaid or the ADA may be easier said than done. “Medicaid is sort of our foundation for people with disabilities,” Sullivan remarked during the Thursday meeting.
Mary McCauley, executive director of the Massachusetts Office on Disability, stated that cutting Medicaid would be a difficult political decision for Trump. There’s a complexity,” McCauley said. “Something may have been stated on the campaign trail, it could be a fairly simple statement, but that simple statement would mean multiple actions at a variety of levels to make it happen.”
MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program, also provides home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers to people who receive long-term care in their home or community who would otherwise require care in an institutional setting. Acting Commissioner of the Department of Developmental Services, Sarah Peterson, addressed worries that these types of waivers, in particular, could be eliminated.
“We’re one of 47 states that operates [these] waivers, and so I’m hopeful that the incoming administration will really see this as a human issue and not a partisan issue, because we’re talking about a huge segment of the country that would be potentially impacted — particularly if it comes to waiver services,” Peterson said.
Officials stressed throughout the webinar that the Healey administration would do all possible to protect disability rights, and they recommended a “wait and see” approach to Trump’s disability policy. The governor and her team are also under pressure to protect state services, with advocates for the personal care attendant program asking her not to propose further cuts and supporters of home care services urging the state to shore up accounts that are running out of money.
I am one of the millions of Massachusetts residents who relies on the state’s Medicaid program. I have received PCA services for over a decade. In 2020, I moved into my own apartment. My PCA provides around-the-clock support.
Disability services play a vital role in the lives of thousands of Massachusetts residents. Cutting MassHealth funding could be catastrophic. For some people, budget cuts could be a matter of life or death.
Sources:
Ali, Hanna. “What to Know about Healey’s Budget Cuts to MassHealth’s Fee-for-Service Payments and More.” WBUR , NPR, 9 Jan. 2024, http://www.wbur.org/news/2024/01/09/masshealth-fee-for-service-payment-healey-budget-cuts-newsletter.
Drysdale, Sam. “Worries Grow over Federal, State Service Cuts.” State House News Service, State House News Service, 9 Jan. 2025, http://www.statehousenews.com/news/healthcare/humanservices/worries-grow-over-federal-state-service-cuts/article_0e9c3318-ceb8-11ef-a0cc-dfe581157d0a.html.
Drysdale, Sam. “PCA Program’s Cost, Importance on the Rise.” State House News Service, State House News Service, 7 Jan. 2025, http://www.statehousenews.com/news/healthcare/humanservices/pca-programs-cost-importance-on-the-rise/article_2c287c72-cc54-11ef-9bc7-37b287cc6a38.html.