Keep Your Eyes on the DC Budget and Medicaid

The wheels keep turning, and the news continues to be...only not as bad as it could be.

Based on this report, and in line with DDS director Reese's announcement at the meeting of DC's Project ACTION! meeting on Saturday May 17, DC's chief financial officer started his 10-day review of the mayor's FY2026 budget last Thursday, which by my count would put it into the DC council's hands by a week from today (although that's Memorial Day, so probably May 27 instead).  Mendelson reported that he expects the council to hold its final budget vote on August 1, so it's looking like a busy June and July for budget hearings.  Meantime, no word on a fix in the House of Representatives for DC's FY2025 budget, so $410 million in cuts can be expected before the end of September.

DDS director Reese also announced at Project ACTION! that the DDS forum on May 23 would focus on the IFS waiver and vocational rehabilitation state plan, with, hopefully, a briefing on the proposed DDS budget for FY 2026 on May 30.

The fate of Medicaid nationally continues to churn.  The House budget committee passed a budget reconciliation bill over the weekend, rumored to have gotten the votes of the House Freedom Caucus based on the promise that Medicaid work requirements would start in 2027 instead of in 2029 as agreed by the House energy and commerce committee the previous weekend.  And for some of the most conservative House representatives, even this isn't enough.

Still Plenty of Uncertainty Ahead

Tomorrow.  Friday, May 16.  That's when the House budget committee will be considering the steep cuts to Medicaid that were proposed by the House Energy and Commerce committee on Sunday (after the 24-hour vigil to protect Medicaid that took place last week).  The proposed cuts focus on work requirements and eligibility restrictions, which would likely result in fewer Medicaid recipients overall.  For the moment though, no targeted reduction in the percentage of DC's federal Medicaid funding is included in the cuts - though this could change.

Our DC officials are working overtime to protect DC, not only with respect to Medicaid, but also to encourage the long-delayed vote in the House to permit our planned local spending in this fiscal year.  Fortunately, it appears that the amount we stand to lose could now be lower than the $1.1 billion originally projected, but it's still the case that we are looking at significant cuts in our spending between now and the end of September, which also is affecting the mayor's presentation of the budget for next year.  The delay also obviously affects the DDS budget briefing, which could still take place this month but is far from certain.  DC council hearings on the FY2026 budget, which normally start in March, may now not happen before June.

So - Things are better than they might have been, thanks to fancy footwork by the mayor's team, but we still have a long road ahead.

Advocating through the Night for Medicaid

 

I was proud to join advocates from DC and around the country yesterday for part of the 24-hour vigil for Medicaid, which is still going on as I write this blog post.  Besides the cuts being considered nationwide, the Energy and Commerce committee of the House of Representatives, where we in DC have no voting representation, is considering shifting the federal funding for Medicaid in DC from 70% to 50%, which would have devastating consequences.  

For now, it appears that the House committee has postponed its voting on the Medicaid cuts, but analysis has shown that in order to cut the government's budget deficit by $880 billion over the next ten years as directed by the House budget resolution, the House will indeed be cutting Medicaid, which is unacceptable.  So when you ask your friends and family living outside DC to write or phone their representatives NOW in opposition to Medicaid cuts, remind them to protect the cuts to DC Medicaid as well.  

They're coming for DC Medicaid too

Well, the celebrating over the past few days has been about Mayor Bowser's tentative deal with the Commanders to return to RFK Stadium (which still needs DC council approval).  At about the same time she was announcing that breakthrough, though, the mayor was also holding a press conference warning of the "dire impacts" of changes in the federal contribution to DC's Medicaid program that are being proposed by some in Congress.  This DC-specific proposal is part of a package of potential Medicaid cuts that I wrote about in my latest blog post.  Even though the mayor understandably focused on the consequences for local hospitals and health care, she mentioned that there would be effects on other programs, and as we know, this could affect our local disability supports as well.

The House of Representatives committee overseeing Medicaid will meet day after tomorrow to finalize these cuts, as described in this article.  While - as usual - we in DC have little ability to affect decisions that affect us directly, one thing you can do is look at this list of members of the House Energy and Commerce committee, and see if you know anyone in the districts they represent that you can ask to write in opposition to this DC-specific change, as well as any Medicaid reductions being considered in their own state.

We'll all been focused on the House's failure to restore its $1.1 billion in cuts to local DC funding in the current fiscal year, which continues to affect the mayor's presentation of next year's budget.  But these looming Medicaid cuts, if they go through, are even more significant because the effects will extend long before this year and hit the most vulnerable people in DC most directly.

So again, look at that list of members of the House Energy and Commerce committee, and generate those calls, letters and emails to them today and tomorrow!  There's no time to waste!