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Education Groups Push Back Against Feared Cuts to School-Based Medicaid

鈥楬elping take care of children鈥檚 medical needs in school is a step forward. Taking that away is such a step backward,鈥 student disabilities advocate.

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Dozens of national organizations joined forces this week in a letter to House and Senate leaders protesting a major Medicaid restructuring in a proposed federal budget deal, arguing it would jeopardize the health care of the nation鈥檚 most vulnerable children.

The , signed by 65 organizations, was spearheaded by the Medicaid in the Schools Coalition, which advocates to protect and improve school-based Medicaid programs, which primarily serve students with disabilities and those living in poverty.

鈥淎ny cuts to Medicaid would reduce care for children with disabilities, undermine efforts to address the mental health crisis and exacerbate workforce shortages of school health providers,鈥 said Jessie Mandle, the national program director at the and coalition co-chair. 鈥淪trong school-based Medicaid programs 鈥 rely on a strong Medicaid program overall, and so cutting Medicaid is equivalent to cutting school district budgets.鈥

Schools receive about $7.5 billion annually from , a popular joint federal and state health program that insures nearly 70 million Americans, most of whom are low-income. For more than 30 years, it鈥檚 paid for services in schools for students with disabilities as well as low-income students.

(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

While President Trump said this week that Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security would in the GOP鈥檚 quest to deliver $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and beefed-up border security, in Medicaid funding decreases are being eyed in the House.

School-based Medicaid makes up less than 1% of the overall program鈥檚 budget, but is still the fourth-largest funding stream for districts and allows them to pay for a swath of resources, including therapies for students with disabilities, school nurses, mental health care and specialized equipment, such as wheelchairs. 

of districts use Medicaid funding to pay for the salaries of health professionals, according to 2017 data. New data forthcoming from The Healthy Schools Campaign suggests that the number is now even higher, Mandle told 社区黑料. 

And 鈥 40 million 鈥 are now insured through Medicaid or the , which provides low-cost health coverage to children in families that earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid. Previous that improving children’s health improves their classroom performance.

Meanwhile, the political confusion over whether Medicaid will be protected has done little to quell anxiety that the funding might be in jeopardy. 

A Feb. 19 statement to from White House spokesperson Kush Desai attempted to reconcile Trump鈥檚 comments shielding Medicaid with his support for the proposed House budget that targets it: 鈥淭he Trump administration is committed to protecting Medicare and Medicaid while slashing the waste, fraud, and abuse within those programs 鈥 reforms that will increase efficiency and improve care for beneficiaries.鈥

Any spending caps or reductions to the federal match would shift the bulk of the mandated costs of providing health care coverage to states, according to the coalition鈥檚 letter. This could have 鈥渄evastating鈥 effects, leading to a cut in services for all students 鈥 not just those with disabilities聽鈥 or increased local taxes.聽

On the ground, this could result in fewer social workers or school-based psychologists, decreased access to health care 鈥 especially in rural and urban communities, a loss of critical supplies that allow children with disabilities to access the same curricular as their peers and noncompliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the coalition states.

鈥淲e have a very underfunded special education system,鈥 said Sasha Pudelski, director of advocacy at and coalition co-chair, 鈥渁nd this Medicaid reimbursement is a critical source of funding.鈥

鈥淭rying to find the money within our local education budget to fill in gaps where Medicaid currently reimburses districts would be 鈥 in this funding environment in particular 鈥 an enormous challenge,鈥 she continued.

Silvia Yee (Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund)

Silvia Yee, policy director at the , which co-signed the letter, said it鈥檚 particularly important that many of these health-related services are available in schools because they are widely trusted community hubs and family touchpoints. 

The burden of cuts would be felt particularly by vulnerable families, she added: 鈥淭he more you reduce the available resources to a lower-income family, the more you鈥檙e potentially digging a pit for that family, and it鈥檚 very hard to dig out of.鈥

Yee also noted that a rollback in federal funding could make it more challenging for students with disabilities to learn in an integrated setting with their peers, setting them up for 鈥渟egregation for the rest of their lives.鈥

鈥淎ll of these services can and should work together to help us achieve integration that鈥檚 not a burden on teachers [and] not a burden on schools,鈥 she said. 鈥淗elping take care of children鈥檚 medical needs in school is a step forward. Taking that away is such a step backward.鈥

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