Plain-Language Medicaid Self-Advocate Toolkit

AUTISTIC SELF ADVOCACY NETWORK (ASAN) is proud to announce the release of our plain language toolkit.  A Self-Advocate's Guide to Medicaid. Medicaid is the biggest health care program in the country. It’s an important part of the United States health care system. But a lot of the information out there about Medicaid and attempts to change it can be difficult to understand and navigate. That’s why we’ve partnered with the Autism Services, Education, Resources and Training Collaborative (ASERT) and the Special Hope Foundation to develop this plain-language toolkit. This toolkit is the third in a series of accessible policy and advocacy resources that ASAN is releasing this year, following our ACA toolkit and our toolkit for getting through to your elected officials. These resources equip self-advocates to participate in important conversations about our lives and the services we rely on. A Self-Advocate's Guide to Medicaid explains in plain language: Who can get Medicaid What Medicaid pays for What Medicaid waivers are What Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) are How Medicaid is funded, and What would happen if the government makes changes to how Medicaid is funded The toolkit is available in both Easy Read and Plain Text versions. The Easy Read version uses pictures along with text, and has more white space. Both are written in easy-to-understand language and are screenreader-friendly. We hope that you’ll use this toolkit to understand and participate in these important conversations over the next year. We encourage you to share it widely so that we can give as many self-advocates as possible the tools we need to tell lawmakers: Nothing about us without us! source: press release AUTISTIC SELF ADVOCACY NETWORK May 8, 2017