Home and community-based services are less expensive than nursing homes, and we know most seniors & individuals with disabilities prefer to get care in the comfort of their homes, where they can maintain independence. I filed an amendment to ensure HCBS isn't cut in this bill.

Messaging guidance:

Stop saying "HCBS." It sounds like a bank that finances arms dealers.

Spell out "home and community based services." Home is a word with positive connotations. Community, likewise, has positive connotations.

Also an evergreen reminder that HCBS started under…known leftist Ronald Reagan.

Let’s talk about Medicaid!!! Always!!! Because Medicaid HCBS keeps disabled people out of institutions.

Around 4.5 million people on Medicaid benefit from HCBS, which includes having home healthcare workers and also other things like job coaching. HCBS was also created after Ronald Reagan of all people signed it into law.

I love how HR1 (the big beautiful bill) is structured like a series of sequential time bombs set to detonate in 2026, 2027, 2028 and beyond. Next up are the Medicaid work requirements which will add millions more to the uninsured. Then the provider tax changes that will collapse our HCBS system.

About 4.5 million people receive #Medicaid home care (or HCBS) services annually. New @KFF brief examines who is covered, and what services were available in 2024. www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...

🧵 They're not identifying fraud in services that happen to serve disabled people. They're defining the services disabled people rely on as inherently fraudulent.

600,000+ people are on HCBS waiting lists right now. Paragon's recommendation is to cut the funding.

See the number for your congressional district:

www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2025/4/...

The cost of HCBS on average per person is around $36,000, whereas long-term nursing homes for people on Medicaid is around $47,000. This shows how attacks on HCBS are not only heartless in forcing people out of their communities, it also doesn’t make much financial sense.

Many people who receive HCBS are doing a huge amount of caregiving anyway.

For those who don't know, Maggie Hassan has a son with cerebral palsy and got her start in disability rights advocacy. She is one of the biggest defenders of Medicaid HCBS.

Home and Community-Based Services waivers help disabled people stay out of institutions. For @motherjones.com, I reported on how disabled people's independence is threatened by attacks on Medicaid that fund HCBS waivers (and others). www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Seriously fuck off with your “chocolate brioche” hcbs.

As Medicaid cuts are underway, more disabled people may be forced to move to institutions like this due to HCBS not being as funded.

How would $880 billion in Medicaid cuts affect people with disabilities?

That translates to a loss in home and community-based services (HCBS) for 4.5 million people. HCBS programs help people live independently, rather than be institutionalized.

Learn more: bit.ly/BeyondHealth_Disability

Yes, but it would be very different. Medicaid covers nursing homes, care for the disabled, and HCBS, which Medicare doesn’t.