Disability Rights Florida is urging policymakers to protect home and community-based services as Congress holds a hearing March 17, 2026, on Medicaid fraud. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations announced a March 17, 2026, hearing titled Protecting Patients and Safeguarding Taxpayer Dollars: The Role of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in Combatting Medicare and Medicaid Fraud, scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET. The hearing follows an expanded committee investigation into Medicaid fraud in multiple states and ongoing federal action involving Minnesota’s Medicaid program.
Disability Rights Florida supports real efforts to stop fraud. Fraud should be prevented, investigated, and prosecuted. But broad claims about “fraud and waste” should not be used to make it harder for eligible people to get care or to weaken Medicaid services that help people with disabilities live safely in their homes and communities. The Arc’s recent explainer (see attached sources) notes that states already use established anti-fraud tools, including Medicaid Fraud Control Units, audits, provider screening, data analysis, civil penalties, and criminal prosecutions.
Home and community-based services, often called HCBS, are not extras. They help people with disabilities and older adults get out of bed, get dressed, eat, go to work, care for family members, and avoid unnecessary institutional placement. National disability and aging organizations recently urged Congress to protect HCBS and warned that broad funding threats against Medicaid programs could increase wait times, deepen workforce shortages, and put essential supports at risk. While HCBS may be considered “optional” in Medicaid law, that legal label does not reflect real life. For the millions of people who depend on these services every day, they are anything but optional.
What is happening in Minnesota matters beyond one state. According to Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families and the National Health Law Program, CMS has taken unusual steps against Minnesota’s Medicaid funding, including a deferral of roughly $259 million and a compliance action tied to more than $2 billion a year in future federal matching funds. Both sources describe these actions as a major break from how Medicaid compliance disputes have usually been handled.
For Florida, the concern is straightforward. When policymakers talk about fraud in sweeping terms, people who rely on Medicaid can end up caught in the middle. That includes people who depend on home care, personal assistance, transportation, and other services that make community living possible. Fraud should be addressed directly and precisely, without putting eligible people at risk of losing support.
Disability Rights Florida believes accountability and access must go together. Federal officials should target suspected fraud, use existing enforcement tools, give states clear standards, and protect continuity of care while disputes are resolved. People with disabilities should not lose the services they rely on because of broad funding threats or unclear enforcement actions. Disability Rights Florida will continue monitoring federal actions that could affect Floridians with disabilities and the services they rely on.
For more information: