Extreme climate events aren’t slowing down—and for some of society's most vulnerable members, the situation can be uniquely dire. Both the people who require home health care and the workers who provide that care aren’t being given the financial support to survive our increasingly dangerous climate crisis.
In Julia Métraux’s latest piece, she explores this gap in funding—one that has existed across administrations but is only worsening under President Trump.
“Through home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers, some 7 million Medicaid recipients now receive support that lets them stay in their communities,” Julia writes. “But after years of neglect under both parties, experts fear that sweeping cuts to both Medicaid and FEMA—especially under the GOP’s most recent budget bill—may be the final straw for the often small, privatized, and budget-strapped providers behind that care.”
As Julia explains, this is a multilayered crisis; weather events are becoming more inescapable, employees providing home care are underpaid, and Medicaid funding is perpetually at risk.
One expert Julia spoke with, Marcie Roth, the chair of the National Advisory Committee on Individuals with Disabilities and Disasters and a senior advisor to FEMA under the Obama administration, put it like this: “I don’t see any efforts in which people who are paid to support people with disabilities have the support that they need so that they can come to work.”
You can read her full report here.
—Katie Herchenroeder
