Episode Twenty One - Scenes from the Medicaid Redesign Team Public Hearing
Channel: Ability Fierce
Date: 2020-02-25

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the legislature needs to cut $2.5 billion from the Medicaid budget because there isn't enough money. To do this he appointed a Medicaid Redesign Team to look for inefficiencies and places to cut. It's actually the second team created to do this, the first was in 2011, so it goes by the awkward handle "MRT2." Last week, the team held a hearing requesting public comment and gave the public less than 24-hours notice. That meant many disabled people who have to call Access-a-Ride more than 24 hours in advance couldn't be there. This was probably intentional as you can see above because Medicaid cuts harm people and provoke protests. The protests would have been larger and probably uglier if more people had come. Ability Fierce was there and this week's episode gives you a sense of the what went down and the urgency of the issue.