So much going around about this Bill and how it will impact Special Education. I am sharing as a fellow mom of 2 students with IEPs and someone who has devoted the past 12+ years advocating for them and others to thrive in their educational environment.
As a reminder: This is not a political post, it is a presentation of facts. Please do not make it political. Comments have been turned off to ensure this remains as it was intended. You are welcome to reach out to me via this website should you have any questions and I will be more than happy to try and answer them for you. I am not an attorney. I am a mom, just like most of you whose purpose is to ensure my children are able to successfully access their learning in their Least Restrictive Environment.
I encourage you to dig in and read the Bill to understand its components. This post is intended to present facts that I encourage you to research further on your own. You can find the Bill's full content on Congress.gov HERE.
The question on everyone's mind is if Special Needs children will be negatively and directly impacted by the Big Beautiful Bill that just passed and lose Medicaid.
Let's first understand how many special needs children qualify for Medicaid (in CA it's called Medi-Cal). For reference, this information is being quoted from undivided.io. It is free to create an account and access resources. You can access the full article HERE.
"The program most often utilized by the families of children with developmental disabilities is the institutional deeming waiver, or HCBS-DD waiver. This program allows many children who are Regional Center clients to receive Medi-Cal without regard to family income. For children with private health coverage, Medi-Cal coverage will be considered secondary insurance, and may cover out-of-pocket expenses when you see a provider who accepts Medi-Cal."
As you can see, the child's disability and Regional Center qualification are what guide qualification for Medi-Cal using the waiver when household income is too high.
If you child is not a Regional Center client and has significant medical needs (but no cognitive delays), the Home and Community Based Alternatives Waiver is an option as well. The waitlist is long, but it is an option for medically fragile children to be able to live at home instead of an institution.
You can see an overall summary of funding resources in CA below and read more about them HERE.
The following series of images are a summary of the Medicaid section of the bill taken directly from 119th Congress Website. It' s a lot. I know. The bottom line is that the special needs population is being protected; no funding is being removed nor re-allocated elsewhere.
This Bill, with regard to Medicaid, is about tightening up the boot straps, not cutting funding. If a student is qualified, they will be to continue to receive funding for services with out interruption. Students have the ability to qualify regardless of family income just as they always have. The key to this, if family income is to high, as mentioned above, lies with securing Regional Center services to then utilize the waiver.
More information about CA Regional Center applications and qualification can be found HERE. Specifically, you can learn about eligibility for Regional Center services HERE.
Please feel free to reach out via this website if you have questions, and I would be happy to help direct you to additional resources if needed. You can can also view my General Resources page.
I am confident our kids will continue to have access to the funds for services they need. Keep questioning. Keep learning. And always, always keep using your voice to advocate for your kids!