Following Medicaid Cuts, Californians With Intellectual, Developmental Disabilities Face Uncertain Future

Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, October 6, 2025…

• When President Donald Trump signed his sweeping policy bill this summer, it included $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, known here as Medi-Cal. The program is recognized for helping low-income people access health care, but it also funds services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Now, many Californians with disabilities face an uncertain future.
• A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops from California to Oregon.
• California counties are allowed to inspect immigration detention centers under a state bill passed last year. But reporting from CalMatters shows three of the four counties authorized to do inspections under state law haven’t done so.

Programs For Californians With Intellectual, Developmental Disabilities At Risk 

At 10 a.m. on a recent Tuesday, about half a dozen people pull out canvases, brushes, paints and pens as a fall-themed Snoopy jazz playlist hums throughout the studio. 64-year-old Ron Ansley is working on an abstract painting of plates and cups. Ansley has autism and several physical disabilities including deep vein thrombosis and cataracts. He comes here three days a week for art classes at The Arc San Francisco. “Making art is what I call a relaxation, stress breaker. And mostly, I just like to express myself in painting,” Ansley said.

The nonprofit serves about 800 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, helping them find jobs, pursue higher education and navigate their health care. Statewide, more than half a million Californians rely on Medi-Cal for similar services. But now, programs like these are at risk.

Under President Trump’s new law, the state Department of Health Care Services estimates that California could lose $30 billion a year in Medi-Cal funding over the next decade. It falls to state legislators to close that gap when they take on next year’s budget. “In the past, when states such as California have had budgetary emergencies, home and community based services have been on the chopping block,” said William Dow, a health policy expert at UC Berkeley. Home and community-based services are programs that allow people to live and work in their homes and communities rather than in institutions like nursing homes. But federal law considers these services “optional,” leaving them vulnerable when states have to make tough financial decisions.

The White House said the Medicaid changes won’t impact disability services. In an email to KQED, a spokesperson pointed to a provision in the bill providing additional funding to expand access to this care. But policy experts argue the provision’s $7 billion is insignificant compared to the $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts. Kristen Pedersen, the executive director of The Arc San Francisco, said even before these cuts, disability services were underfunded. Most of their programs already have a 12-month waitlist, with more than 100 people waiting. “What’s really concerning for us is, knowing that funding is going to be sparse for a system that’s already pretty anemic as it is,” she said.

Federal Judge Halts Trump’s Plan To Deploy California Troops To Oregon Protests

A federal judge in Oregon late Sunday halted the Trump administration from federalizing any out-of-state National Guard troops for deployment to Oregon, including hundreds from California. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut held an emergency hearing after California joined Oregon’s lawsuit earlier in the day.

Gov. Gavin Newsom celebrated the ruling, calling it a “victory for American democracy itself.” In a post on X, he wrote, “Trump’s abuse of power won’t stand.”

The broader order comes a day after the same judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying Oregon’s National Guard in response to protests outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland.

The administration attempted to bypass that ruling by deploying troops from California. According to a memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth filed in court, the president also ordered 400 Texas National Guard troops to “perform federal protection missions” in Chicago, Portland and potentially other major cities. The White House has increasingly turned to federalizing troops for deployment in U.S. cities, including earlier this summer in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump has also threatened to send troops to Chicago and on Tuesday mentioned San Francisco as a potential “training ground” during a speech to top military officials in Virginia.

California Gave Counties Power To Inspect ICE Detention Centers. They’re Not Using It

Three of the four California counties empowered to inspect federal immigration detention facilities have not done so, and the fourth has conducted only basic reviews of food this year, records obtained by CalMatters show.

If they were checking, local officials would be providing an additional layer of oversight at a time when the number of people held in detention centers has surged because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on unauthorized immigrants.

Two state laws provide state, county and local officials the authority to review health and safety conditions in privately-run immigration detention facilities. The first, passed during the first Trump administration, allows the attorney general’s office to inspect for violations of national detention standards and health or safety issues. The AG’s office has used that power to publish annual reports on conditions inside detention centers, including one this year that alleged deficient mental health care. The second, a 2024 law, empowers counties to inspect privately run detention facilities. In the past, counties have inspected jails and prisons, finding mold, rats, and other health violations. But county health officials have not used that power to inspect federal immigration detention facilities.

In Kern County — where three detention centers operate — the health officer, through an attorney, has said in testimony before a federal judge that he has “no intention” of exercising his new authority to inspect the facilities to ensure they comply with state and local health standards. The companies that manage the detention centers through contracts with the federal government say they take seriously their responsibility to adhere to federal standards and uphold human rights. One unsuccessfully sued to overturn the new California inspection law, alleging it was unnecessary and an intrusion on the federal government’s authority.