House Budget Bill

On Thursday, May 22, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would cut Medicaid by $715 billion over the next ten years. Between 2028 and 2034, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be cut by $300 billion.  

We know that many people with disabilities, their family members, and caregivers rely on Medicaid and SNAP every day. These programs can pay for food, doctor’s visits, prescriptions, and medical equipment.  

You’ve likely heard a lot about the budget over the past few weeks, and we want to explain what these cuts could mean for you and your family.  

Medicaid 

We are working carefully to identify which groups of people are at risk of losing their coverage if and when work requirements become mandated. If Medicaid cuts are approved, here’s how North Carolina could be affected:  

  • Work requirements could cause as many as 123,000 people to lose Medicaid coverage in the first year alone. Over a 10-year period, that number could increase to 218,000. Work requirements don’t increase employment; they increase bureaucracy. In states that have had work requirements, people have lost Medicaid coverage due to paperwork barriers.  
  • Medicaid funding enables rural hospitals and other critical health care infrastructure to stay open and provide care to rural residents. Many people with IDD living in rural parts of North Carolina need access to rural hospitals for emergency care. Cuts to Medicaid funding could lead to more hospital closures, leaving people without critical medical care.  
  • Many people with disabilities living in western North Carolina rely on Medicaid. Months after Hurricane Helene decimated parts of our state, people with disabilities are struggling to get basic needs met, and changes to Medicaid services would create additional hardship. 
  • Once per year, local Department of Social Services (DSS) offices confirm that a person enrolled in Medicaid is eligible to receive benefits. In the bill approved by the US House of Representatives, DSS offices would have to confirm eligibility twice per year. This would add a costly and unnecessary administrative burden that will further strain local staff, increasing the risk of delays, errors, and wrongful terminations of coverage.  

This means individuals with IDD, or their caregiver will have to fill out Medicaid paperwork twice a year.  If someone is diagnosed with IDD, that diagnosis does not change. This is wasteful and unnecessary spending. 

SNAP 

With proposed cuts of $300 billion to this program, people living in North Carolina would feel the effects of the cuts. For the first time, each state will be responsible for paying some of the costs for the program. This means North Carolina could be responsible for paying an estimated $700 million every year for SNAP.  

Our state legislators would have to decide if the state can afford to pay that amount each year. If the decision is made to not pay the amount, then it could result in cuts to SNAP benefits, or changing the eligibility so that a smaller number of people would qualify for SNAP, or both. This would be in addition to other proposals that include expanding work requirements for older adults and parents of school-age children and increasing administrative costs for states and counties.  

These changes would affect people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), their families, and the level of care they receive at home. Cuts to SNAP benefits could mean going without food to pay rent or other bills. It could also mean someone taking care of a loved one with IDD would have to stop giving support so that they can work outside of the home. 

We want to ensure that you have the information needed to make informed decisions and talk about how changes to Medicaid and SNAP would affect your family. We are already hearing from families about how these cuts will create a tremendous burden.  

Most importantly, this is the time to reach out to the offices of Senator Tillis and Senator Budd to let them know how these cuts will affect people with IDD. We need your continued support – members of the Senate want to hear from their constituents. If this bill becomes law, people with IDD, their families, and direct support professionals could face the possibility of losing Medicaid and/or SNAP benefits.  

Call your senator today!  

Senator Tillis: (202) 224-6342 

Senator Budd: (202) 224-3154