A message from the DSHS’ Developmental Disabilities Administration:
Throughout July, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health celebrates Disability Pride Month and the anniversary of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). Enacted on July 26, 1990, the ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities based on race, color, sex, national origin, age and religion and guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to enjoy employment options, purchase goods and services and participate in state and local government programs. CMS OMH honors this observance by highlighting the unique health care challenges and barriers faced by those living with disabilities.
Twenty-seven percent of adults in the United States have some type of disability, with mobility (serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs) and cognitive (serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions) disabilities being the most prominent types. Individuals living with disabilities often face worse overall health outcomes, including the likelihood of obesity (41.6%), diabetes (15.9%) and heart disease (9.6%).
Additionally, individuals living with disabilities experience barriers to care, with 1 in 4 adults living with disabilities not having access to a usual health care provider, 1 in 4 having an unmet health care need due to cost in the past year, and 1 in 5 adults with disabilities not having a routine check-up in the past year. These obstacles put individuals living with disabilities at increased risk for worse health outcomes.
CMS OMH recognizes the importance of working together to help address these barriers and disparities impacting individuals living with disabilities. The anniversary of the ADA serves as an important reminder to reaffirm our dedication to ensuring people with disabilities have access to quality health care services and allows us to share valuable resources to support and empower individuals living with disabilities.
You can find these resources on CMS’ health observance page this month or on the Improving Access to Care for People with Disabilities page all year long.
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Resources
- Getting the Care You Need: A Guide for People with Disabilities.
- How to Improve Physical Accessibility at Your Health Care Facility.
- Modernizing Health Care to Improve Physical Accessibility: A Primer for Providers.
- Modernizing Health Care to Improve Physical Accessibility.
- Medicare Learning Network: Modernizing Health Care to Improve Physical Accessibility.
- Improving Communication Access for Individuals Who are Blind or Have Low Vision.
- Improving Communication Access for Individuals Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Disparities in Medicare Fee-For-Service Beneficiaries.
- How Does Disability Affect Access to Health Care for Non-Dual Eligible Beneficiaries?
- ADA.gov.
