Medicaid’s Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) is one of the most important sources of daily support for Americans with disabilities. It can provide personal care, respite for family caregivers, supported employment, assistive technology, home modifications, case management, behavioral supports, and other services that private insurance generally does not cover. That is why fraud, waste, and abuse in HCBS must be …
New Poll of Likely Voters Reveals Surprising Areas of Agreement on Disability Policy
Disability issues rarely command sustained attention in Washington, but a new poll suggests that voters across the political spectrum share more common ground on these issues than many policymakers may realize. To better understand public attitudes toward disability policy, Able Americans commissioned polling through the Echelon Insights Likely Voter Omnibus Survey. We asked voters about several key issues affecting Americans …
The Netherlands and the Rapid Descent into the Pro-Death Abyss
Part 10 in the 11-Part Series “Is Any Life Unworthy of Living?“ As we have seen throughout this series, “survival of the fittest” ideas and eugenics have historically shaped the modern global movements promoting assisted suicide and euthanasia. There is little doubt that the pro-death movement has made significant inroads, and has especially affected people with medical issues and other …
New Report Targets Medicaid Fraud While Protecting People with Disabilities
“Fraud must be rooted out. People with disabilities should not be uprooted with it.” Washington, D.C. — As the Trump Administration targets widespread fraud in government benefit programs, a new report from the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Able Americans initiative proposes six key reforms that would prevent fraud, waste, and abuse while still protecting Medicaid’s Home- and Community-Based …
Legal Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia Sweep the World – 2010-Present
Part 9 in the 11-Part Series “Is Any Life Unworthy of Living?“ As noted in Part 8, sentiment in the U.S. supporting assisted suicide and euthanasia grew exponentially after 2000. After the states of Oregon (1994) and Washington (2008) legalized assisted suicide, others quickly followed: Vermont (2013), California and Colorado (2016), Washington, D.C. (2017), Hawaii (2018), New Jersey (2019), Maine …
Fixing Fraud While Saving Medicaid for Those Who Need It
Waste, fraud, and abuse aren’t just budget problems—they’re human ones. By Leslie Ford, Sara Hart Weir, and Rachel Barkley Medicaid was created in 1965 to ensure that Americans who were poor, elderly, or disabled could access basic health care. But for Americans with disabilities, Medicaid’s early design had a serious flaw: It was built around institutions. For decades, people with …
The Dominoes Begin to Fall — The U.S. and Europe, 1990s-2010
Part 8 in the 11-Part Series “Is Any Life Unworthy of Living?“ With assisted suicide and euthanasia now in the cultural mainstream, the pro-death lobby began to seize the moment. But which was the easier issue to move forward: assisted suicide or euthanasia? Assisted suicide means that someone wants to end their life and someone else provides the means for …
ABLE 3.0 Takes Center Stage on Capitol Hill
On April 15th, Able Americans and its Coalition to Fix the Disability System gathered bipartisan policymakers, advocates, and disability community leaders at the Russell Senate Office Building to introduce ABLE 3.0 — the next generation of legislation expanding economic freedom and independence for Americans with disabilities. The event featured remarks from Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), alongside Former Congresswoman Cathy McMorris …
Making Killing Legal Again — The 1980s-1990s
Part 7 in the 11-Part Series “Is Any Life Unworthy of Living?“ By the end of the 1970s, while assisted suicide and euthanasia were still illegal in the U.S., bioethics continued to expand as a philosophical field, coinciding with a growing awareness of both the right to refuse treatment and the widespread use of advance directives and living wills. In …
The Bioethical and Societal Turn Towards Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia – The 1970s
Part 6 in the 11-Part Series “Is Any Life Unworthy of Living?“ Just as medical science pivoted to more “scientific” uses of genetic testing and an increased emphasis on mitigating genetic diseases, the field of bioethics exploded. Bioethics is a philosophical area of study that, among other topics, examines ethical and moral issues around patient wellbeing, medical intervention and death …