October 29, 2021
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund applauds President Biden for delivering on his campaign pledge to make government work better for disabled people in yesterday’s announcement of the Build Back Better Framework which would go a long way to improve the lives of disability communities, and the individuals who live in them, across our entire nation. Systemic change doesn’t happen by accident. It requires the allocation of deliberate, strategic resources as President Biden’s plan does.
It will come as no surprise to disability advocates that underfunding Medicaid HCBS has been the rule, rather than the exception for years. Biden’s Build Back Better Framework reverses that trend by paving the way, and creating an infrastructure, for a new direction forward.
Specifically, President Biden’s proposed Build Back Better Framework allocates $150 billon to provide home and community-based services (HCBS) through Medicaid. Opportunities made possible by increasing access to HCBS are far-reaching. HCBS are used by families who care for their disabled children at home, and by both older and disabled adults who want to remain in their homes away from the risks and loss of independence that routinely comes with living in nursing homes and institutions. Robust HCBS support will help a greater number of people of all ages, with and without disabilities, maintain their independence and preserve cherished ties to family, friends and communities.
Once it is passed by Congress, in addition to allocating the necessary resources to provide the supports that people with disabilities need to live in, benefit from, contribute to and lead in their communities alongside our non-disabled peers (rather than being warehoused in institutions or other isolated settings), President Biden’s plan also signals a meaningful commitment to providing better pay and additional resources for the direct care workforce, the support workers many disabled people rely on to provide essential day-to-day “hands-on” assistance.
DREDF strongly supports President Biden’s proposed increase in HCBS investments, along with related provisions that will improve access to housing and transportation equity for disabled, marginalized and underserved communities, including Black, Indigenous, and people of color. We urge the House and Senate to move quickly, allocate much-needed, long overdue support for HCBS, and pass a reconciliation package with these provisions prioritized because, as the saying goes, “Care Can’t Wait.”