Jennifer Buethe

Jennifer works for a service that helps Medicaid enrollees with disabilities. She sees directly how the program helps people with disabilities live with dignity and independence. She also sees how the program supports our state’s health care infrastructure and local economies.

“I work as a human resources manager with a financial management service that helps Medical Assistance recipients manage their Medicaid-funded disability assistance services. The work we do is so important to help people with disabilities be able to live in their own home with their family, be a part of their community, and embrace the power of self-direction to make choices, advocate for their individual needs, and live their best lives. Medicaid services allow for people to receive the care they need and provide financial support to their families, employers, and community programs. It helps people retain their independence, dignity, and freedom from institutions, asylums, and other mass incarceration facilities that end up costing 100x more to operate. Medical Assistance is people helping people, which in turn helps the economy, helps communities, and helps create a better and more inclusive society.

“Medical Assistance is the life blood of my work and my career. The services taxpayer dollars provide keep our clients with disabilities safe, housed, and supported, and allow them to compensate caregivers for the work they do every day.

“Medical Assistance isn't just about hand-outs or charity. The funding doesn't go directly to the recipients. It passes through them and returns to the economy when clients make purchases from U.S. businesses, hire employees, or contract with social service agencies. It keeps people employed and able to support their families, it keeps businesses running, and those people and institutions pay back into the Medicaid system via federal/state income and other taxes. It is a flowing cycle of funding that ultimately costs the taxpayers less money than letting Medicaid recipients get sick, end up in hospitals and asylums, or end up on the streets. Funding cuts and the loss of millions of dollars will put people at risk for injury, illness, neglect, homelessness, and death.

“Funding cuts will put hundreds of case managers, social workers, direct support providers, day programs, caregivers, state and county government employees, and organizations like mine who specialize in managing Medicaid services for clients out of work and out of business. The result of that major hit to the local economies will hurt other people and businesses who have no direct connections with Medicaid services. Everyone will pay a higher price across the board than the proposed cuts to funding will ever hope to save.

“Everyone is scared. The uncertainty of how the cuts will impact them directly is cause for alarm and anxiety. Medicaid recipients, their families, and service providers are wondering if they will lose their homes, their access to health care, or their jobs.”