Families and advocates urge lawmakers not to cut Medicaid services for mental health, ABA and developmental disabilities

Multiple public witnesses and nonprofit leaders told the joint committee that Medicaid reductions would have immediate, painful consequences for people with behavioral-health needs, autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Speakers included representatives of NAMI Nevada, the Children’s Cabinet, Opportunity Village and parent and provider witnesses who described individual cases in which Medicaid-funded services enabled children or adults to avoid hospitalization or institutional placements. "Medicaid is our lifeline," Catherine Nielsen of the Nevada Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities said, describing the impact of lost coverage for families who rely on insulin, durable medical supplies or personal care attendants.

NAMI Nevada and individual family members described fragile behavioral-health capacity statewide and urged maintaining coverage, access to psychiatric services and adequate reimbursement for community providers. An owner of an ABA clinic said Medicaid rates are well below national averages and that cuts would force providers either to freeze wages or stop accepting Medicaid patients, leaving families without essential therapies.

An Opportunity Village official described programs that support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and warned that reduced Medicaid funding would deepen a multi‑million dollar deficit and force program cuts to job training, residential supports and habilitation services.

Ending: Public commenters asked lawmakers to preserve Medicaid-funded behavioral-health and disability services and to consider targeted protections for children and people with severe, chronic needs if federal funding changes occur.