It's tough to keep up with all the changes going on at the Federal level or understand how that might impact people with Down syndrome in our local areas. We were joined on the podcast by two experts in policy and advocacy from the National Down Syndrome Congress (NDSC). Heather Sachs is the Policy & Advocacy Co-Director for the NDSC and Jawanda Mast is the Grassroots Advocacy Manager for the NDSC. On the podcast, we discuss how the Medicaid changes at the federal level will impact those with disabilities at the state and local level. This is Part 2 of a two part series looking at Policy and Advocacy at the Federal level.

For more information:

National Down Syndrome Congress (https://www.ndsccenter.org)

Information and application for NDSC's National Down Syndrome Advocacy Coalition https://ndsccenter.org/policy/national-down-syndrome-advocacy-coalition-ndac/about-ndac.html

Advocacy Training and Resources. Templates, one-pagers, toolkit and presentations. https://ndsccenter.org/policy/training-resources.html

-Changes to Medicaid, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-changes-coming-to-the-aca-medicaid-and-medicare -Closer look at work requirements in HR1: https://www.kff.org/medicaid/a-closer-look-at-the-work-requirement-provisions-in-the-2025-federal-budget-reconciliation-law -Impact of Medicaid cuts on Home and Community Based waiver Services: https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/history-repeats-faced-medicaid-cuts-states-reduced-support-older-adults-and-disabled -Impact of Medicaid cuts on students and schools: https://healthyschoolscampaign.org/dev/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/How-Medicaid-Cuts-Will-Harm-Students-Schools.pdf

If you would like to suggest a topic for us to cover on the podcast, please send an e-mail to [email protected].

If you would like to partner with the Down Syndrome Center, including this podcast, please visit https://givetochildrens.org/downsyndromecenter.

We are thankful for the generous donation from Caring for Kids – The Carrie Martin Fund that provides the funding for the podcast recording equipment and hosting costs for this podcast.