Disabled activists of Downstate New York ADAPT gathered and held a sit-in from March 14th to March 18, 2022, in front of the office of Assembly member Carl E. Heastie in the Bronx to oppose the restrictions imposed on Medicaid-funded home care eligibility in the final state budget of 2020. Calling for the repeal of the law that would put the measures into effect, the activists demanded immediate action from the State Legislature in the upcoming budget. They explained that these new stricter rules on eligibility for home care and personal care services would make people eligible for nursing homes before being eligible for home care services, adding another level or risk and deterioration of living conditions in the pandemic.
Prior, Downstate New York ADAPT and Capital City ADAPT worked Assembly member Simon Gottfried and Senator Gustavo Rivera in 2020 to draft the bills that would repeal the cuts. The repeal bill has been introduced but is still in the Assembly Committee and was not included in the Governor’s draft budget or the Assembly’s house budget. —Yan Grenier
All photos by Erik McGregor. More photos:
