Welcome to our Blog, we are so glad you stopped by!  Whether you’re a person with an intellectual and developmental challenge or someone with a special interest like a family member, provider, policy-maker, or advocate, we’re doing this together and having an ongoing conversation is an important part of the journey so we are always thrilled to have you here and to hear from you!

We’re speaking from North Carolina at this moment, and while many topics and issues are shared across our nation and the world, we’ll focus on what’s happening in our own back yard in this piece. 

Top of mind for most of us today, no matter the role we have, is of course the Medicaid budget shortfall.  Since we’re just jumping into this, let’s keep it short and sweet, or perhaps more suited to the moment, short and bittersweet.  The North Carolina Medicaid budget has a shortfall of over 300 million bucks, and yet, North Carolina cannot allow the Medicaid program to run out of money, stop providing services, and become insolvent.  To do so would violate federal law and would lead to pretty rough consequences for the Tar Heel State, so as the nickname suggests, North Carolina sticks to its’ business.  That said, how the Medicaid program remains solvent is where things might become challenging for some receiving non-emergency and non-institutional services.  Rate cuts are out due to the effects of a flurry of lawsuits, so we can expect other measures to be forthcoming between now and the end of the fiscal year, which wraps up on June 30, 2026.  We will likely see smaller service authorizations and experience tougher standards when asking for services.  A phone call or email to each of the legislators representing your area asking them to support a fully funded Medicaid budget will help make these losses feel more personal to them, something we can all appreciate.

We’ll wrap it up right there because it’s just “today”, and hope springs eternal!