Last Thursday, a provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act took effect that cuts Medicaid eligibility for hundreds of thousands of people who are in the United States lawfully. Refugees, asylees, survivors of human trafficking, and survivors of domestic violence – people the federal government itself granted protection – are now shut out of the health coverage they rely on.
This is a disability justice issue. Medicaid is the backbone of disability support in this country. It pays for home care, personal assistance, medications, durable medical equipment, and the community-based services that keep disabled people out of institutions. Many of the people losing coverage today live with disabilities acquired through war, torture, and persecution. Cutting them off does not save money. It shifts costs to emergency rooms, pushes people into institutions, and costs lives.
The law draws a line between immigrants the government deems worthy of care and those it does not. Disabled immigrants sit at the sharpest point of that line, facing exclusion by both status and disability. That is exactly the kind of intersectional harm Disability Law United exists to fight.
Disability Law United calls on state governments to use every available tool to protect coverage for lawfully present immigrants, and on Congress to repeal Section 71109.
We will not accept a health system that decides whose disabilities count.
About Disability Law United
Disability Law United is a national nonprofit that uses legal advocacy to advance justice for the disability community. We focus on systemic harms in immigration systems, policing, prisons, and disaster relief infrastructure, and bring novel disability claims to win changes that redistribute power and access to civic life.
Media Contact: [Patricia Cronin, PCronin@dlunited.org