In Kansas's 2nd District, 21,000 disabled residents rely on Medicaid, and Derek Schmidt's July 3, 2025 vote helped enact the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that cuts the program. Its work rules, which start by January 1, 2027 for adults covered through the Medicaid expansion, are projected to shrink Medicaid enrollment by 2.3 million people nationwide in fiscal 2027.
The budget blueprint that told Medicaid's House committee to find at least $880 billion in deficit reduction passed in February and April 2025 by margins Schmidt's vote decided. The services that let disabled people get care at home rather than in an institution are largely an optional Medicaid benefit and so more vulnerable to cuts; 6,792 people in Kansas were already waiting for them in 2026.
Derek Schmidt's Votes on Medicaid Work Rules and Disability Services
- Disabled Expansion Adults Outside the Exemptions Must Report Work Hours From 2027 Under the Law Schmidt Voted For. In May, Derek Schmidt's yes was the difference in a 215-to-214 House vote; the Senate-rewritten final law then drew his yes on July 3, 2025 and cleared 218 to 214. Starting by January 1, 2027, adults covered through the Medicaid expansion must log 80 hours of work or another approved activity each month unless an exemption applies. The medically frail exemption covers, among others, a person "who is blind or disabled (as defined in section 1614)", one "with a substance use disorder", one "with a disabling mental disorder" and one "with a physical, intellectual or developmental disability that significantly impairs their ability to perform 1 or more activities of daily living." An expansion adult with a disability that fits none of the exemptions will have to report hours to stay covered, and federal Medicaid officials at CMS project that "enrollment would be reduced by 2.3 million individuals in FY 2027."
- Home Care for People With Disabilities Is Expected to Slow Under the July 2025 Law That Came After the Budget Blueprint Schmidt's Votes Decided. Twice in 2025 the budget blueprint, H.Con.Res. 14, passed by two votes with Derek Schmidt's yes: first 217 to 215 on February 25, then, in the Senate's text, 216 to 214 six weeks later. A no from him either day would have deadlocked the chamber. The blueprint ordered the panel that writes Medicaid law to "reduce the deficit by not less than $880,000,000,000" over the decade. Home and community-based services are "largely an optional Medicaid benefit," a status the Bipartisan Policy Center says leaves them "more vulnerable to reductions during periods of state or federal budget constraints", and experts it cites expect the law to "slow or reverse recent HCBS expansion efforts" across the states.
What Derek Schmidt's Votes Mean for Kansans With Disabilities
- 21,000 Kansans with disabilities in the 2nd District count on the Medicaid program the law cuts. Of the 116,700 Medicaid enrollees in Kansas's 2nd District, 21,000 are people with disabilities, KFF's 2025 figures show. Medicaid pays for the home and community-based services that keep many of them out of institutions, and the law cuts the program's federal funding in Kansas by $3.351 billion over ten years.
- 6,792 Kansans are already waiting for Medicaid home care, and waits run years. KFF's 2026 state table lists 6,792 people waiting in Kansas for Medicaid home and community-based care, and nationally people on those lists waited 32 months on average in 2025. Because that care is mostly optional and so more vulnerable to budget cuts, less federal money threatens to stretch those waits for Kansans with disabilities, or to push some into institutions.
Frequently Asked Questions About Derek Schmidt on Disability rights
What is Derek Schmidt's record on disability rights under Trump?
Derek Schmidt cast a yes for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and its Medicaid work rules, starting by January 1, 2027, require expansion adults, including disabled adults who are not otherwise exempt, to document 80 hours of activity a month. His yes votes also decided the February and April 2025 budget blueprint that directed Medicaid's committee to come up with $880 billion or more in deficit reduction. The law cuts Kansas's federal Medicaid funding by $3.351 billion over ten years. In Kansas's 2nd District, 21,000 people with disabilities are on Medicaid.
How many people with disabilities in Derek Schmidt's district are on Medicaid?
Derek Schmidt represents a district where 21,000 people with disabilities were enrolled in Medicaid in 2025, according to KFF, along with 59,100 children and 12,800 seniors. With 116,700 enrollees in all, Kansas's 2nd District has more people on Medicaid than any other district in the state.
Did Derek Schmidt cast deciding votes for the bill and budget behind the Medicaid cuts that reach people with disabilities?
Yes. Derek Schmidt supplied part of the one-vote House margin for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on May 22, 2025, 215 to 214, and of the two-vote margins for the budget blueprint that set up its Medicaid cuts, 217 to 215 in February and 216 to 214 in April; each time, his no alone would have flipped the result. He also voted for the final law, which passed 218 to 214.
Last updated: 2026-10-27