Ashley Moody on Elder Care: Votes Against Protecting Nursing-Home Care, the Staffing Standard's Repeal, and the Disability Integration Lawsuit

In 2025 Ashley Moody voted against several chances to stop the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's Medicaid cuts to older Americans, including a point of order against cuts that take away health care from seniors in nursing homes and a motion to eliminate any provisions that would lead to nursing home closures, and then cast one of the 50 votes that passed the law on July 1, 2025. Medicaid is the primary payer for 58 percent of Florida nursing-home residents.

Moody voted to confirm Mehmet Oz, whose agency in December 2025 repealed the nursing home minimum staffing standards, and in July 2026 she voted against taking up a resolution to end Medicare's new prior-authorization pilot in traditional Medicare. While Moody was Florida attorney general, Florida joined a 2024 lawsuit that ended in September 2026 with the federal rule against unnecessary institutionalization of disabled people struck from the regulations.

Ashley Moody's Votes and Actions on Nursing Homes, Home Care and Caregivers

• Moody Cast a Deciding Vote for the Medicaid Cuts and a Ban on the Nursing-Home Staffing Standard, in July 2025. On July 1, 2025, Ashley Moody voted for H.R. 1, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President breaking the tie. Its section 71111 bars the Department of Health and Human Services from enforcing the 2024 nursing-home staffing rule through September 30, 2034. KFF says the law's Medicaid cuts could affect the 22 million people ages 50 and older on Medicaid, and that its moratorium on provider taxes, which are in place for nursing facilities in 46 states, and its new limits on state-directed payments account for $340 billion in reduced federal Medicaid spending over 10 years.
• Moody Voted Against a Rule Protecting Seniors in Nursing Homes From Medicaid Cuts in February 2025. On February 20, 2025, Moody voted no on Senator Tammy Baldwin's point of order "against legislation that would take away health care from seniors, including those receiving care in nursing homes, through cuts to the Medicaid program." It failed 48 to 52. Medicaid is the primary payer for 63% of nursing facility residents nationally.
• Moody Voted Against Removing Provisions That Would Close Nursing Homes, in June 2025. On June 30, 2025, Moody voted no on Senator Jack Reed's motion to send H.R. 1 back to committee with changes that would eliminate any provisions that change State provider taxes; and (3) would eliminate any provisions that would lead to any nursing home closures. It failed 48 to 52. Florida's certified nursing facilities had 74,768 residents in KFF's most recent count.
• Moody Voted Against Striking the Medicaid Cuts That Pay for Home Care, in June 2025. On June 30, 2025, Moody voted no on Senator Ron Wyden's motion with instructions that would strike any provision that cuts funding for Medicaid. Every Republican voted no, and it failed 47 to 53. Medicaid pays for almost 70% of all home care spending in the U.S., nearly all of which is provided through optional services, and the Bipartisan Policy Center says that optional status makes these programs more vulnerable to reductions during periods of state or federal budget constraints.
• Moody Voted Against Protecting Seniors' Medicaid and Family Caregivers in April 2025. On April 4, 2025, Moody voted no on an amendment for a reserve fund "relating to preventing reduction in enrollment or benefits for individuals enrolled in Medicaid, including seniors, children, families, individuals with disabilities, veterans, and military families," which failed 48 to 51. On April 5 she voted no on an amendment for a reserve fund "to prevent increased barriers to American caregivers, including individuals caring for seniors, children, home care workers," which failed 49 to 50, so her vote was one it could not lose. The budget plan went forward without either protection, and the Bipartisan Policy Center reports experts expect the law will slow or reverse recent HCBS expansion efforts in states.
• Moody Voted Against Repealing Six-Month Medicaid Checks in January 2026. On January 30, 2026, Moody voted no on Senator Bernie Sanders's amendment to repeal the law's requirement that states re-check expansion adults' eligibility every six months, starting with renewals on or after December 31, 2026. It failed 49 to 51. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that provision will increase the number of people who are uninsured by 700,000 in 2034.
• Moody Voted to Confirm Mehmet Oz, Whose Agency Repealed the Nursing-Home Staffing Standard, in April 2025. On April 3, 2025, Moody voted to confirm Mehmet Oz to run the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. On December 2, 2025, his agency released an interim final rule repealing the nursing home minimum staffing standards, including 3.48 hours per resident, per day of total nurse staffing and a registered nurse on site around the clock.
• Moody Voted to Keep Medicare's Prior-Authorization Pilot in July 2026. On July 16, 2026, Moody voted against taking up S.J.Res. 198, which would have overturned WISeR, a model that since January 2026 requires prior approval for some services in traditional Medicare in six states: New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Washington. It failed 46 to 50. Two vendors together denied 5,944 prior authorization requests in the first three months of the program.
• Florida Joined the Lawsuit That Ended the Federal Rule Against Needless Institutionalization While Moody Was Attorney General. In 2024, with Ashley Moody as its attorney general, Florida was one of the 17 Republican-led states that sued the Department of Health and Human Services over its Section 504 disability rule; Disability Scoop's list of the states in the case, published February 20, 2025, includes Florida. Florida stayed in the case, Texas v. Kennedy, and was one of five states left when the Trump administration joined them in asking the court to strike the rule's integration provisions. On September 23, 2026 the court vacated the entire integration provision which includes specific prohibitions against segregation and institutionalization, and LeadingAge, an association of nonprofit aging-services providers, said it is concerned about the ability of older adults with disabilities to continue to receive services in their communities. In Florida, 77,123 people were already on waiting lists for Medicaid home care.
• Moody Voted to Confirm Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Whose Department Held Back Senior Jobs Money for Months in 2025. On March 10, 2025, Moody voted to confirm Lori Chavez-DeRemer as secretary of labor. In summer 2025 her department withheld the roughly $300 million set aside for national grant recipients of the Senior Community Service Employment Program, which places low-income people 55 and older in paid community jobs; one national grantee furloughed 800 low-income senior participants due to the funding gap. The hold was transient: on September 30, 2025, the Labor Department issued guidance that allots the full year grant period for National Grantees totaling $307,072,086.

What the Medicaid Cuts Ashley Moody Voted For Mean for Florida's Nursing Homes and Home Care

• Nursing homes. Medicaid is the primary payer for 58 percent of residents of Florida's certified nursing facilities, where 74,768 people lived in KFF's most recent count; those are the residents the repealed staffing standards were written to protect.
• Home care. 77,123 Floridians were waiting for Medicaid home care in KFF's most recent count, and Florida does not screen people on its waiting lists for eligibility; the law's cuts phase in after that count.

Frequently Asked Questions About Ashley Moody on Elder care

Last updated: 2026-10-25

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