Policy

While the latest GOP attempt at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act failed, healthcare access is still at risk. President Trump has taken several steps to make the healthcare market more unstable, including threatening to withhold payment to insurers, releasing anti-ACA videos, decreasing the window for enrollment, and considering not enforcing the clause requiring everyone to purchase insurance. The House and Senate appear to have moved on from healthcare….for now. This doesn’t mean they won’t revisit changes in the future.

Waivers are the means through which Autistic people and people with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities receive services that allow people to live in the community. Latest released information on consolidated waivers is available here.

Possible PA medicaid changes, with work requirement! PCAA opposes work requirements for Medicaid.

Paul’s Law [SB108], introduced by Senator John Sabatina and a long list of bipartisan co-sponsors, would ensure that people with disabilities are not discriminated against for organ transplants. The bill is named for Paul Corby, an autistic man from Schuylkill County, who has left ventricular noncompaction, which means his heart is less able to pump blood. Paul was initially not considered a candidate for a heart transplant because he is autistic. Like Paul, many people with disabilities are often denied life-saving organ transplants merely because of their disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits this discrimination, but little has been done to enforce the federal law.