Congress is playing politics with people’s lives. The proposed Medicaid cuts aren’t just numbers on a budget sheet — they’re a direct assault on individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), their families, and the professionals who support them. If passed, these cuts will devastate the very people Medicaid was designed to protect.
A Life-or-Death Crisis
Medicaid is more than a government program — it’s the foundation that allows people with disabilities to live, work, and contribute to their communities. Slashing its funding isn’t about fiscal responsibility — it’s about stripping essential services from those who need them most.
Thousands will be left without home- and community-based services. Families who rely on Medicaid for their loved ones’ care will be forced into impossible choices. Providers already struggling with worker shortages will be pushed to the brink. And Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), who are the backbone of disability services, will see their already inadequate wages squeezed even further.
How can we claim to value dignity and inclusion while gutting the very supports that make them possible?
Broken Promises, Brutal Reality
The administration promised not to cut Medicaid. Yet here we are, watching elected officials try to balance budgets on the backs of the most vulnerable. What part of paying DSPs a barely livable wage is considered “waste”? What part of ensuring people with disabilities can live in their communities instead of institutions is unnecessary?
We Will Not Stay Silent
This fight is about basic human rights. I call on every elected official — Republican and Democrat — to reject these cruel cuts and stand up for the people who rely on Medicaid to survive. The disability community will not be ignored. We will not be silent. And we will not forget who stood with us — and who didn’t.
The time to act is now. Contact your representatives. Demand they protect Medicaid. Lives depend on it.
Rob Malone is CEO of The Arc Prince George’s County.