Health Affairs Blog Post: Challenges for People with Disabilities within the Health Care Safety Net

Abstract

Medicare and Medicaid were passed to serve as safety nets for the country's most vulnerable populations, a point that has been reemphasized by the expansion of the populations they serve, especially with regards to Medicaid. Yet, even after 50 years, the disabled population continues to be one whose health care needs are not being met. This community is all too frequently left to suffer health disparities due to cultural incompetency, stigma and misunderstanding, and an inability to create policy changes that covers the population as a whole and their acute and long-term needs.