When politicians frame disability rights as “extras,” they erase the people who sit beside us in pews, pack lunches at our tables and clock in across Minnesota every day. Disabled people are not a special interest group. Cutting the policies that make independent living possible is exclusion by design.
Minnesota’s Medicaid programs (Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare) provide health coverage to roughly one in four residents and spend most funds on people with disabilities or older adults, covering about half of long‑term care costs.
Our state also depends on home‑ and community‑based services (HCBS) waivers — such as CADI and the DD waiver — to keep people integrated at home and at work. Destabilizing federal Medicaid support or adding red tape doesn’t trim “waste” — it cuts the hours, equipment and care that make participation possible.
Related: Welsch v. Likins: a landmark legal case for disability rights in Minnesota
Here’s what the evidence shows:
- Medicaid and MinnesotaCare are foundational to community life here, not fringe programs. They cover about a quarter of Minnesotans and finance roughly half of long‑term care statewide.
- Minnesota’s HCBS waivers keep people in community settings rather than institutions — the point of independence.
- Nationally, proposals to shrink Medicaid would increase the uninsured and disproportionately harm disabled people who rely on it.
- The employment gap is real: In 2024, 22.7% of people with disabilities were employed, compared with 65.5% of nondisabled peers.
Democracy is on the line
Any policy that makes it harder for disabled Minnesotans to vote silences a part of our community. State law and practice provide multiple safeguards — assistance at the polls, accessible ballot‑marking devices, language access and curbside voting — but these only matter if they are preserved, funded and implemented well every election.
Here’s what Minnesota’s leaders should do:
- Hold the line on Medicaid. Oppose federal cuts and administrative barriers that would shrink eligibility, reduce HCBS capacity, or shift costs onto families and counties.
- Invest in HCBS workforce and stability. Our waivers work only if we can recruit and retain direct care workers and keep services predictable statewide.
- Make voting access non‑negotiable. Maintain and expand accessible machines, curbside options, transportation supports, and multi-format assistance every cycle.
Basic services are at risk
Minnesota prides itself on being practical and neighborly. We know what works: stable Medicaid funding, strong home‑ and community‑based services and a voting system that welcomes every eligible voter.
The alternative is not some abstract “waste” trimmed from a spreadsheet. It’s a neighbor losing a job because a personal care shift got cut. It is a parent forced into a nursing facility miles from family. It is a voter missing a ballot because transportation fell through.
Disabled Minnesotans live and work among us because we have chosen, together, to build the supports that make independence possible. Calling those supports “extras” doesn’t make them unnecessary. It just makes our communities smaller.
Matthew Murphy is a Minneapolis‑based writer and accessibility‑focused technical communicator working on immigrant rights, community safety and evidence‑forward public guides. He can be reached at telecommatt@gmail.com.
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