{"id":1264,"date":"2026-07-30T16:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1264"},"modified":"2026-07-30T16:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:44:13","slug":"california-does-medicaid-home-care-well-theyre-being-punished-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1264","title":{"rendered":"California Does Medicaid Home Care Well. They\u2019re Being Punished For It."},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Dr.<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

On July 21, <\/span>HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads Medicaid programs federally, announced they\u2019re deferring over $850 million from the state of California over its Medicaid-funded home and community-based services program called In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS). The Trump administration has for the program\u2019s growth over the past decade.<\/p>

Read more Covid Truthers Are Claiming Fauci\u2019s Diary Was \u201cScrubbed\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Their argument: the program is so successful there must be rampant fraud.<\/p>\n

Home and community-based services got started under President Ronald Reagan to help disabled people remain in their communities with the assistance of paid aides, including family members, instead of being institutionalized. From a purely economic standpoint, than care in hospitals or nursing homes. And disabled people find the right to remain in their communities to be so crucial that it has become an essential tenet of disability rights activism.<\/p>\n

Hagar Dickman, who directs California-focused long-term services and support at Justice in Aging, told me<\/strong>that disabled people \u201care entitled to the life that we expect to have of independence, of autonomy, of self-actualization, and agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of May 2026, nearly a million disabled and aging Californians are authorized for home and community-based services through IHSS. Unlike in some states, like Texas, where people can lag on waiting lists for over a decade, once a disabled Californian goes through the process of qualifying for IHSS, they are able to get services to help them live independently immediately.<\/p>\n

The program\u2019s growth, according to Tyler Sadwith, who directs Medicaid services in the state, is proof that it\u2019s working. In February, Sadwith wrote to Dr. Oz\u2019s agency defending it against allegations of fraud. \u201cOutcomes that CMS has repeatedly endorsed and promoted through federal approvals of California\u2019s IHSS and [home and community-based services] programs, because they deliver care at a fraction of institutional costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts I spoke with are concerned that the attacks specifically on California could be used to make an example of paid caregiving, which Kennedy has attacked profusely. Attacks on paid caregiving are also happening at the same time that the Department of Justice is trying to undermine Olmstead, a Supreme Court decision which granted disabled people the right to remain in their communities, in addition to brutal federal Medicaid cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the incredible things about paid family caregiving models is that it allows people to have culturally competent care,\u201d Sabrina Epstein, Disability Rights California policy analyst, told me. \u201cThe program is set up for people with needs above and beyond the usual care that a family member would provide, and so these claims of fraud are ableist and racist.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Maine Just Told ICE to Get Out<\/a><\/p>\n

And unlike attacks towards Minnesota and Medicare-funded home health in Los Angeles, there isn\u2019t even a \u201cfew bad apples\u201d argument to be made when attacking IHSS. California, like every state, also investigates Medicaid fraud. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an existing framework to ensure that there\u2019s not fraud. You can\u2019t bill for more hours than you\u2019re allotted,\u201d Elizabeth Zirker, a senior attorney with National Health Law Program, told me. Additionally, Zirker notes, in California, Medicaid home care is not administered through private companies, unlike some other states.<\/p>\n

Additionally, getting IHSS is not automatic for disabled Californians on Medicaid who apply. \u201cIt\u2019s not as simple as applying for in-home supportive services and then being awarded hours,\u201d Zirker said. \u201cCounties are not incentivized to pay for services people don\u2019t need.\u201d<\/p>\n

And California\u2019s model is still not perfect; experts I spoke with cited waiting lists for some smaller Medicaid-funded programs outside of IHSS, people needing more hours than they are given and pay for care workers needing to be higher.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole assumption that growth means fraud is absurd,\u201d Dickman said, \u201cespecially given all of the investments that the state has made to actually intentionally grow the program in order to benefit its disabled population and to support people living at home.\u201d<\/p>

Read more What \u201cYou Only Get 18 Summers\u201d Gets Right About Parenting<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republicans are deferring $850 million from the state because of unfounded fraud claims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia Does Medicaid Home Care Well. They\u2019re Being Punished For It. - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1264\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California Does Medicaid Home Care Well. 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