30 Senators Pressure Senate Leadership to Support Disability Programs in Forthcoming COVID-19 Legislation

The powerful advocacy of readers like you has led 30 U.S. Senators to send Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) a letter asking him to prioritize the inclusion of increased funding specifically for Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) programs in the final version of the forthcoming COVID-19 relief legislation.

This package is currently the subject of negotiations between the House, which passed the HEROES Act two months ago, and the Senate, which introduced the HEALS Act as a negotiation starting point. ANCOR was disappointed to see that the HEALS Act did not include provisions from the HEROES Act that would have specifically granted HCBS programs a 10% increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) rate. As such, we are grateful for these Senators’ leadership, as their letter calls attention to that specific funding provision in the HEROES Act.

Action point: While the media has shared that negotiations between the chambers have stalled, our experience has shown us that there are frequent stops and starts in these kinds of discussions. There is strong political pressure on both parties to come to an agreement, so this is still an important time to keep the pressure on Congress. Ask for this increase in funding using our email and twitter action tool today!

Additional resource: Members wanting to learn more about the differences between the HEROES Act and the HEALS Act might be interested in this side-by-side comparison of the two bills.