Organizations advocating for the rights of people with disabilities are pushing back on recent claims by U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of widespread Medicaid fraud, including money paid to family members who care for seniors or people with disabilities.
“Fraud has the potential to weaken the programs that support millions of people across America,” Easterseals President/CEO Kendra Davenport said in an April 21 press release.
“Every dollar stolen by those abusing these programs is a dollar stolen from someone who needs care. When resources are misused, it takes support away from families who genuinely need it. However, using ‘fraud’ as a cover for cuts is unacceptable. Debates about policies and programs need to be clear and honest. Overly broad allegations of fraud, waste and abuse should not be used to disguise massive cuts to Medicaid that will hurt millions of hardworking Americans.”
Davenport added, “Home and community-based services (HCBS) is not inherently fraudulent. It’s a vital program that saves taxpayers money by caring for seniors and people with disabilities in their homes and communities, rather than in significantly more expensive nursing homes and institutions.”
She pointed out that rising HCBS costs “are due to complex factors, like a large aging population, increased need, and more people choosing to live in the community — not widespread fraud.”
Kennedy: Family members being paid for services “they used to do … for free”
During an April 16 House Ways and Means committee hearing, Kennedy criticized “waiver programs that many of these states have now applied for and received. Waivers allow people, family members, who are taking care of an elderly parent to get paid for balancing the checkbook, for picking up the groceries, for driving somebody to a doctor’s appointment. … These are family members who are getting paid to do the things that they used to do as family members for free. And this is rife with fraud.”
A 2026 AARP Public Policy Institute Report, “Valuing the Invaluable,” estimated that about 59 million family caregivers of adults perform 49.5 billion hours of unpaid caregiving annually as of 2025 in the United States.
The Arc, an advocacy organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, said the comments “reflect a troubling pattern of mischaracterizing Medicaid and the essential role of home and community-based services. We can all agree that protecting the integrity of the programs that provide these supports is important. But making broad and unsupported claims that HCBS, particularly services delivered by family caregivers, are ‘rife with fraud’ puts adults and children with disabilities, and their families, at risk of losing the help they need to live in the community.”
“Addressing fraud requires stronger coordination across federal and state partners, faster sharing of fraud findings and provider disqualifications, and investment in modern data systems that help identify bad actors,” Davenport said. “Broad funding freezes do not prevent fraud — they only disrupt services for the people who rely on them.”
“Recent public comments denigrating critical home- and community-based services (HCBS) made by the federal leaders that oversee Medicaid programs are deeply concerning,” said Barbara Merrill, CEO of ANCOR, a national provider association that represents providers of services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). “The undervaluing of HCBS demeans the very real, complex, and difficult work that caregivers — whether paid or unpaid — provide.
“Medicaid HCBS programs are much more than supporting an individual with the daily and essential needs that many of us take for granted, like getting dressed in the morning or traveling to a medical appointment. Indeed, for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, these services support skill development towards greater independence, community integration, and employment that enable people with I/DD to forego expensive public institutions and live full lives in their homes and communities.”
