Food for Thought: Leveraging Medicaid for Housing, Improving Health Data on People with I/DD

In a continued effort to keep readers informed of larger discussions in disability supports, we are sharing two articles on trending topics: the need for more disability-accessible, affordable housing, and the need for stronger data on people with disabilities.

HealthAffairs article on how Medicaid can help enrollees’ housing needs: “First, while Medicaid can’t and shouldn’t pay for housing, it can pay for a range of services that help enrollees find or maintain stable housing. Likewise, health plans and providers should continue to invest in affordable housing development projects while recognizing the need for a communitywide investment in the social determinants of health. Second, health care stakeholders have a critical role to play in advocating for adequate resources for chronically underfunded affordable housing programs.”

AAIDD webinar on improving data on the health of people with I/DD: “While data on health of people with disabilities generally have improved substantially, data on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities is still inadequate to identify disparities or assess progress towards health equity. Ongoing challenges in identifying the population with IDD in national datasets means that available data does not adequately describe the prevalence and health needs of people with IDD. […] This webinar will provide an update on the status of improved data on health of people with IDD, and solicit participant input in shaping the next roadmap.” ANCOR note: the paged linked to above also connects to reports informing policy discussions on this issue.