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1 day ago | 
disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament
In a marathon session marked by the arrest of dozens of disability rights activists, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives pushed ahead with plans to drastically reduce Medicaid spending. The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 30 to 24 on Wednesday to send the measure to the full House.
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4 days ago | 
disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament
In a major shift, disability service providers across the nation are being acquired by investment firms seeking a quick profit, raising serious questions about implications for care. Traditionally, providers of residential care, home health, personal assistance and other services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were nonprofit or religious organizations.
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1 week ago | 
disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is unveiling plans to give researchers access to data on Medicare and Medicaid enrollees with autism, though experts are doubtful that the effort will identify the condition’s causes.
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1 week ago | 
disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament
President Donald Trump wants to cut $163 billion in federal spending next year, potentially zeroing out key disability programs, some of which are already pausing services because they’re running out of money. The White House unveiled a budget summary late last week known as a “skinny budget” that calls on Congress to slash funding for non-defense discretionary spending by 22.6% for the fiscal year starting in October.
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2 weeks ago | 
disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament
As the Trump administration lays out ambitious plans to address autism, many longtime leaders and well-known experts in the field have been left out, stakeholders indicate. National autism advocacy groups and top researchers tell Disability Scoop that they have not had any contact with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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2 weeks ago | 
disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament
The future of the nation’s disability services is on the line as Congress reconvenes to consider legislation that could chop billions from Medicaid. Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives approved a Republican-backed budget blueprint, with leaders eyeing $1.5 trillion is savings over 10 years.
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3 weeks ago | 
disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider a case that may have major implications for the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The high court will hear arguments in a matter known as A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools on Monday. The case centers on whether students with disabilities must show that schools acted in “bad faith or gross misjudgment” in order to claim that their rights were violated under the ADA or Section 504.
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3 weeks ago | 
disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament
Autism advocates are pushing back after U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that kids who are on the spectrum will never have a job, play baseball, go on a date and more. At a press conference last week in response to new data showing that autism rates are rising, Kennedy painted a grim picture of life with the developmental disability. “These are kids who will never pay taxes. They will never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They’ll never write a poem.
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1 month ago | 
disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament
Federal officials are releasing new data showing that the estimated number of U.S. children with autism has increased once again. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that 1 in 31 children are on the autism spectrum. The figures published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report are based on information collected on 8-year-olds in 16 communities in 2022 through the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring, or ADDM, network.
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1 month ago | 
disabilityscoop.com | Michelle Diament
The nation’s top health official is promising to determine by this fall why autism rates have surged in recent decades. In a cabinet meeting Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services said that his agency is working to find out what’s behind the rapid rise in prevalence of the developmental disability and he committed to an ambitious deadline to reach a conclusion.
