Cutting Medicaid-Funded Community-Based Disability Services Will Cost More Than it Saves

As a single parent of a son with an intellectual and developmental disability (I/DD), I know firsthand how critical home- and community-based services (HCBS) are; not just for my loved one, but for our entire family. HCBS enables my son to successfully hold a part-time job as a GS employee in the federal government. HCBS’ direct service providers deliver job coaching support to both him and his supervisor that allows him and others like him to work successfully in his job.

This support also significantly facilitates the acceptance and inclusion of people with I/DD in the teams that they work with. These Job Coaches are well trained and are able, on a professional level, to interact with my son’s supervisors to enhance his career and mitigate stress points, something which I as a parent can not do. Community-based services also enable me to continue doing my work, to support my family, be part of and active in the community and maintain positive mental health.

Without HCBS, my son’s current job would not be secure and he would not have the opportunity to progress in his career and be a productive, tax-paying, member of society. It would probably reduce him to an unemployed young man spending most of his time at home playing video games like so many others with I/DD. To have to watch my loved one in such a state seems almost impossible to imagine.

That’s why it’s so painful to hear policymakers say that family members like me should provide the critical supports my loved one currently receives from highly skilled direct support professionals, for free. What they are really saying is that providing care to people with disabilities has little value. Many of us are already doing significant care work to fill the gap between the support we receive through HCBS, and what our loved ones need, on top of trying to hold onto jobs and support our family.

Cutting Medicaid-funded HCBS won’t save money. It will push people with I/DD like my son out of the workforce, forcing him to rely on public assistance, all of which is much more expensive for taxpayers than delivering care through HCBS.

There are countless families holding on because of these services–emotionally, physically and financially. Our leaders in Maryland have been strong advocates and supporters for the inclusion of people with disabilities in our communities and workforce. We hope we can count on their support for family caregivers by rejecting and working against all proposals that put community-based services for people with disabilities at risk.

Pim Brouwers is a parent of a son with I/DD from Silver Spring, Maryland.