Wheelchair? Hearing Aids? Yes. ‘Disabled’? No Way.
Many older Americans shun an identity that could bring helpful accommodations, improve care, and provide community.
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Disability Rights Lawyers Threatened With Budget Cuts, Reassignments
The Trump administration wants deep funding cuts for state-based legal services for disabled people, as rights advocates say the Justice Department pushed out many of its lawyers who worked on such issues.
By Tony Leys -
Families Defend Disability Services Amid Medicaid Cuts
Idaho is positioning to slash Medicaid funding as state lawmakers grapple with the effects of the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law last year. On the table are in-home care services.
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Disability Bias Complaints Peak as the Office That Investigates Them Is Gutted
Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 2 p.m. ET.
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Readers Speak Up for Patients Who Can’t, and for Kids With Disabilities
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
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Montana Advocates Worry About Federal Impacts on Support for Students With Disabilities
Montana has a waitlist for people with disabilities who need vocational training, even as schools and disability advocates are concerned about how federal cuts will affect those programs.
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Journalists Explain Colorectal Cancer Risk and Federal Pullback on Georgia Disability Oversight
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
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Trump’s Cuts to Medicaid Threaten Services That Help Disabled People Live at Home
Iowa patient advocates say that in the face of federal Medicaid cuts, the state is quietly reducing in-home services that help people avoid being institutionalized. National groups are bracing for similar cuts elsewhere.
By Tony Leys -
Parents Fear Losing Disability Protections as Trump Slashes Civil Rights Office
The Education Department’s civil rights office often intervenes when students face discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or disability and their families can’t resolve complaints locally. Parents fear the effort to gut the federal agency will leave them with nowhere to seek justice.
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Trump’s DEI Undoing Undermines Hard-Won Accommodations for Disabled People
From halting diversity programs that benefit disabled workers to making federal staffing cuts, the Trump administration has taken a slew of actions that harm people with disabilities.
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Many People With Disabilities Risk Losing Their Medicaid if They Work Too Much
As politicians demand that more Medicaid recipients work, many people with disabilities say their state programs’ income and asset caps force them to limit their work hours or turn down promotions.
By Tony Leys -
Los Angeles Weighs a Disaster Registry. Disability Advocates Warn Against False Assurances.
Amid increasingly frequent natural disasters, several states have turned to registries to prioritize help for vulnerable residents. But while some politicians see these registries as a potential solution to a public health problem, many disability advocates say they endanger residents with mobility problems by giving a false sense of security.
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Montana Eyes $30M Revamp of Mental Health, Developmental Disability Facilities
The moves under consideration include relocating a residential facility for people with developmental disabilities, renovating the state’s psychiatric hospital, and opening a new unit of the hospital in Helena.
By Sue O'Connell and Mike Dennison -
Georgians With Disabilities Are Still Being Institutionalized, Despite Federal Oversight
For nearly 15 years, the feds have had oversight of Georgia’s treatment of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities. Observers say the state still jeopardizes some of its most marginalized residents by not meeting the terms of its settlement with the Justice Department.
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To Keep Medicaid, Mom Caring for Disabled Adult Son Faces Prospect of Proving She Works
A proposed work requirement would make Medicaid expansion enrollees prove they’re working or meet other criteria. Most already work, but millions are expected to lose coverage if the provision passes, many from red tape. A Missouri mother who cares for her disabled son would probably be subject to the rule.
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After Institutions for People With Disabilities Close, Graves Are at Risk of Being Forgotten
Thousands of people with disabilities lived and died in state institutions. Now, decades after the facilities began closing, the cemeteries left behind are at risk of falling into disrepair.
By Tony Leys -
Iowa Medicaid Sends $4M Bills to Two Families Grieving Deaths of Loved Ones With Disabilities
States are required to claw back health care costs from the estates of many Medicaid recipients. Some, including Iowa, are particularly aggressive in their pursuit.
By Tony Leys -
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Disability Rights Activist Pushes Government To Let Him Participate in Society
Garret Frey won a U.S. Supreme Court case as a teenager who needed assistance to attend high school. Now, he’s gained concessions under Iowa’s Medicaid program to help him live at home instead of in a care facility.
By Tony Leys -
California Lawmakers Preserve Aid to Older, Disabled Immigrants
Lawmakers passed a budget that rejected Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to save nearly $95 million by eliminating in-home support services for qualifying older, blind, and disabled immigrants lacking legal residency. Advocates say Newsom’s plan would have cost more in the long run. Newsom has not indicated whether he’ll veto.