CHRIL researchers attended the 2018 Annual Meeting of the  Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living. We presented on Understanding Medicaid Policy and Introducing the Disability Stories Project. Interviews with selected Health Policy Advisors were held at the annual meeting in Denver, CO.

Understanding Medicaid Policy and Introducing the Disability Stories Project - Telluride

Jae Kennedy, Davi Kallman, Elizabeth Wood, Noelle Kurth

The first part of this workshop provided an overview of the Medicaid program and discuss recent/current policy changes of relevance to the disability community. The second component of the workshop talked about CHRIL's newest project, "Disability Stories about Health Policy". The purpose of the Disability Stories project is to document and share the personal experiences of people with disabilities as they respond to changes in the US healthcare system. We used a portion of this presentation to discuss the project and discuss ways that APRIL members can contribute as "health policy advisers". For the first part of the workshop presenters: 1) provided an overview of the evolution and current design of the U.S. Medicaid program, 2) assessed the growing role of Medicaid managed care; and 3) discussed recent Congressional and Administrative proposals for Medicaid reform.  The second part of the workshop was more of a listening and information sharing session, where participants: 1) learned about Disability Stories from the Health Policy project and 2) learned how they can participate in the project and become "health policy advisers". During this session, we also provided a forum for participants to talk about their experiences with health reform.

This session was especially beneficial to youth and those new to independent living, because it provided much needed information on Medicaid and current policy changes that impact individuals with disabilities. Youth and new members were particularly interested to know how they are impacted by policy changes to Medicaid. Participants were given an opportunity to become a "health policy expert" and their personal healthcare experiences are being used to draft publications and educate legislators and policy makers.

Picture: CHRIL presentation at the APRIL Conference. Picture is of a room with audience members looking toward the front of the room as CHRIL presenters speak.