When Gov. Gary Herbert and legislative leaders failed to finalize a plan to expand Medicaid by the end of July, many expressed concern about Utahns living in the coverage gap. For residents with disabilities, the problem is much more than just Medicaid expansion.
Jerry Costley, Executive Director of the Utah chapter of the disability rights group ADAPT, said that Medicaid expansion is one issue among many affecting Utahns with disabilities.
“Right now, there’s about 1,900 people on various waiting lists for services in the state of Utah. Some of them are children and a lack of services is tearing apart families, some are adults who are dying because of a lack of those services. It really is a significant problem,” Costley said. “Related to that, we’re asking that there be equitable treatment for people with intellectual as well as physical disabilities in being able to move out of the nursing facilities.”
The Utah ADAPT chapter is planning on staging a protest in Salt Lake City later this month. Kathy Garber, an ADAPT board member, said that the opportunity to influence public perception of those with disabilities has enabled her to feel that she can make a difference.
“As a person with a disability that hasn’t always had a voice, it was a very empowering experience to be part of something that showed real change,” Garber said. “When I was younger, I wasn’t able to really talk about my disability and show how it impacted me and my family. We’ve got a lot of work left to do and that’s the reason why we’re having people from other states join us.”
Statistics from a recent year show that nearly 400,000 Utahns have some form of disability.
