Mel Brencius, from La Habra, California, has been a Buena Park School District elementary school teacher since 1998. In this role, Mel Brencius routinely works with children who have disabilities.
School districts can recover costs associated with educating students with disabilities through Medicaid’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), but now, it is offering to pay for other healthcare-related services. During the 2021-2022 academic year, the US educated roughly 7.3 million students with disabilities, a number that has grown in recent decades.
Many of these children with a disability are covered under CHIP, which also covers students who come from low-income families. While Medicaid is most widely known for insuring those who need healthcare but cannot afford private insurance, it also pays for certain services, such as nursing and speech therapy, that public schools offer to students in this population. In 2022, CHIP paid public school programs $6.6 billion for these services.
Now, Medicaid is expanding these services to help children with conditions such as asthma and diabetes, according to an August 2023 NPR article. The Medicaid program made this announcement in May 2023, saying it was up to the schools and states to be proactive in getting this coverage. Ultimately, this gives children access to healthcare services at school.
Schools in all 50 states can benefit from this Medicaid expansion, which makes healthcare accessible to both students with disabilities and with certain healthcare needs. However, their states will have to update their Medicaid plans or state-level policies for the benefits to become available.
