People with disabilities face special challenges under new Medicaid rules

I have retinitis pigmentosa. I can’t see anything above eye level. I’m also Deaf, so when I call an agency, I use a video relay interpreter. I have a master’s degree and have spent much of my career figuring out how bureaucracies work. I can still lose an afternoon to a phone tree. So when I hear that disabled people are exempt from Medicaid’s new work requirements, I have a question: How am I supposed to tell you I’m exempt if I can’t use the method you’re asking me to use to tell you? Starting Jan. 1, Minnesota estimates that about 243,000 people on Medical Assistance will have to report 80 hours a month of work, school, volunteering or participation in a work program, or show they qualify for an exemption. They’ll also have to renew their coverage every six months. Related: Minnesota’s most vulnerable citizens are collateral damage in federal crackdown on Medicaid program If you got Medical Assistance on the basis of disability, you’re exempt.

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