Nationwide, facilities that provide services to disabled people are facing budget constraints that are making it harder to provide services. For example, Kentucky’s Lee Specialty Clinic is getting ready to make massive cuts. According to Kentucky Public Radio, this could mean over 1,000 patients lose their specialized care.
This clinic helps about 1,300 patients. It is one of the few places in the state that offers holistic medical care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Good healthcare is especially important for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) since they often have complex medical conditions. Their needs often require constant monitoring.
When people with IDD don’t have access to doctors and healthcare workers who understand how to care for their needs, it puts their health at risk. Chronic conditions are more likely to go untreated, preventable hospitalizations become more common, and overall quality of life declines.
Decades of survey data show that adults with intellectual disabilities consistently report poor overall health, experience higher rates of chronic conditions such as obesity, asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic pain, and face higher poverty rates than adults without disabilities. These disparities have remained largely unchanged, highlighting how essential investment in specialized care truly is.
Many people with IDD also depend on providers who can accommodate differences in communication, sensory needs, and behavior. When specialized clinics are defunded or shut down, people are left with few options: traveling long distances for care, being stuck for months or even years on waiting lists, or going without care entirely.
Kentucky state officials don’t agree on why there isn’t enough money. Governor Andy Beshear’s office says the current budget doesn’t fully cover Medicaid and other related programs. But lawmakers say the budget they approved is fine.
This debate is happening while many other health and social services in the state are also facing cuts. Families and advocates worry these cuts will exacerbate existing problems, like long waitlists, staff shortages, and trouble finding trained staff who know how to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Clinic managers have said they might have to lay off many of their staff members, which would make it even harder for patients to get care.
What’s happening in Kentucky is also happening in other states. Therapy and medical clinics are struggling because of finances, low reimbursement rates, staff shortages, and higher operating costs. Many clinics say they can’t afford to stay open when the money from Medicaid reimbursements doesn’t cover what it costs to provide care. So, clinics are either offering fewer services or closing down completely. This leaves families with fewer choices and longer waits for help.
For example, in Washington state, hundreds of kids have lost access to therapy services because the children’s rehab clinic at St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale shut down. Families there are now looking for help in an area that already has long waitlists and few providers who take Medicaid.
No one should have to wait months or years for therapy. Unfortunately, long waits are becoming more common. Clinics across the country are struggling to stay open.
States are still talking about what to fund. What they decide will determine whether these services will continue or if more disabled people and their families will find it harder to get the care they need.
Sources:
Goodman, Sylvia, and Joe Sonka. “1,000 Kentuckians with Disabilities to Lose Medical Services, Beshear Blames Budget Cuts.” Louisville Public Media, 13 June 2026, https://www.lpm.org/news/2026-06-13/1-000-kentuckians-with-disabilities-to-lose-medical-services-beshear-blames-budget-cuts.
Hall, Jean P., and Noelle K. Kurth. “A Comparison of Health Disparities Among Americans with Intellectual Disability and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder and Americans with Other Disabilities.” Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, vol. 44, no. 2, 2019, pp. 96–109. https://doi.org/10.1177/1540796918825280.
McLean, Kiley J., et al. ‘Health Disparities Persist for Adults with Developmental Disabilities: NHIS Insights, 1999-2018’. Health Affairs Scholar, vol. 3, no. 4, Apr. 2025, p. qxae158, https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxae158.
Nguyen, Lynnanne. “Hundreds of Children to Lose Care as Silverdale Pediatric Rehab Clinic Closes.” KOMO News, Sinclair Broadcast Group, 21 Apr. 2026,
https://komonews.com/news/local/hundreds-of-children-to-lose-care-as-silverdale-pediatric-rehab-clinic-closes-hospital-cites-financial-pressures-protests-waitlists-medicare-medicaid-full-statement.