Medicaid's new work requirement, created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and due to start by January 1, 2027, has adults in the expansion group report 80 hours a month of work or activity unless an exemption applies; the law's list covers people who are blind or disabled under section 1614, the Supplemental Security Income definition, and anyone "with a physical, intellectual or developmental disability that significantly impairs their ability to perform 1 or more activities of daily living." Maria Elvira Salazar, who represents Florida's 27th District, voted for final passage on July 3, 2025, after a yes vote that the House version needed in May. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services expects the rule to mean that "enrollment would be reduced by 2.3 million individuals in FY 2027."
Salazar's votes on February 25 and April 10, 2025 each decided one version of the 2025 budget resolution, the document that handed Medicaid's committee an $880 billion savings quota. Medicaid home care, which lets people with disabilities live outside institutions, is mostly optional for states, and Florida already had 77,123 people waiting for it.
Maria Elvira Salazar's Votes on Medicaid Work Rules and Home Care for People With Disabilities
- Medicaid Work Requirement Exemptions: Salazar Voted for Rules That Can Cut Off Disabled Adults Whose Exemptions Are Not Confirmed, in July 2025. When the final One Big Beautiful Bill Act came up on July 3, 2025, Maria Elvira Salazar was among the yes votes in a 218-to-214 result; in May her vote had helped carry the House version 215 to 214. For adults in the Medicaid expansion group, the law conditions coverage on reporting 80 hours a month of work, school, volunteering or job training, and its disability exemptions run along several routes in the statute, from blindness or disability under section 1614 to serious or complex medical conditions and impairments of daily living. CMS projects that the requirement shrinks Medicaid by 2.3 million enrollees in fiscal 2027, and a disabled adult whose exemption is not confirmed in time is among the people at risk of losing coverage.
- Home and Community-Based Services: Experts Expect Home Care to Slow Under the $880 Billion Energy and Commerce Savings Target Salazar's Budget Votes Decided, in 2025. Salazar was a yes on H.Con.Res. 14 at 217 to 215 in February 2025 and again at 216 to 214 when its final version came back on April 10; either tally would have tied, and failed, had she alone switched. Its directive to the committee that writes Medicaid law: "reduce the deficit by not less than $880,000,000,000" over ten years. Home and community-based services, the aides, day programs and supports that keep people with disabilities out of institutions, are "largely an optional Medicaid benefit," which the Bipartisan Policy Center says leaves them "more vulnerable to reductions during periods of state or federal budget constraints"; experts it cites expect the law to "slow or reverse recent HCBS expansion efforts" across the states.
What Maria Elvira Salazar's Votes Mean for Floridians With Disabilities
- 7,761 disabled workers in Florida's 27th District collect Social Security from a combined system the law pushes toward depletion sooner. Social Security Administration figures list 7,761 disabled-worker beneficiaries in Florida's 27th District at the end of 2024, part of 465,720 statewide. The law raises Social Security's costs by $168.6 billion through 2034, and the program's chief actuary found that "the timing of combined OASI and DI Trust Fund reserve depletion is accelerated from the third quarter of 2034" to the first quarter, so the reserves of the retirement and disability funds, counted together, would run out six months sooner.
- 77,123 Floridians wait for Medicaid home care while the law pressures optional benefits. KFF's count of Floridians waiting for Medicaid home and community-based services stood at 77,123, and Florida runs those lists without first screening for eligibility. For an adult with a disability, each month on the list is a month of relying on relatives or risking a move into a nursing facility, and a squeezed Medicaid budget gives the state less room to shorten it.
- 153,100 people in Florida's 27th District are on the Medicaid program the law cuts. Medicaid enrolled 153,100 people in Florida's 27th District in 2025, 19% of residents, and KFF's allocation takes $13.6 billion in federal Medicaid funding from Florida over ten years, money that pays for therapies, equipment and personal care for enrollees with disabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions About Maria Elvira Salazar on Disability rights
What is Maria Elvira Salazar's record on disability rights under Trump?
Maria Elvira Salazar voted for the 2025 law whose Medicaid work requirement CMS expects to cut enrollment by 2.3 million in fiscal 2027, and disabled adults in the expansion group are at risk if their exemption is not confirmed in time. Her deciding votes in February and April 2025 passed the budget plan that set an $880 billion savings target for Energy and Commerce, Medicaid's committee, and experts expect the resulting cuts to slow home care. Florida had 77,123 people waiting for Medicaid home care.
How does the Medicaid work rule Maria Elvira Salazar voted for treat adults with disabilities?
Under the law Maria Elvira Salazar voted for in July 2025, adults in the Medicaid expansion group are exempt if they are blind or disabled under section 1614, have a serious or complex medical condition or a disabling mental disorder, or live with a disability that "significantly impairs" a daily activity, and the law has states draw on "reliable information available to the State" where they can before asking the enrollee for more. CMS still projects 2.3 million fewer enrollees in fiscal 2027, and disabled adults whose exemption is not confirmed in time are among those the rule could drop.
What do Maria Elvira Salazar's budget votes mean for a Miami-Dade adult with a disability waiting for home care?
Maria Elvira Salazar's two deciding budget votes, in February and April 2025, set the $880 billion savings target for the House panel that writes Medicaid law, and because home care is optional under Medicaid, states can pare it back more readily when money runs short, the Bipartisan Policy Center warns. A person in Florida's 27th District who needs an aide to stay at home joins a statewide list that already held 77,123 people, with less federal Medicaid money flowing to the state that runs it.
Last updated: 2026-10-27