ASHA Advocate: April 24, 2026
April 24, 2026
Calling ASHA Advocates: Medicaid Is Under Attack (Again)
ASHA needs advocates to continue the fight to protect Medicaid. Congress is again considering using special budget procedures to fast-track funding cuts and program changes. Further cuts will make it more difficult for Medicaid beneficiaries to access audiology and speech-language pathology services.These changes would make it more challenging for people to become eligible and remain enrolled in this critical health care safety net program.
ASHA has been consistently advocating against further cuts and harmful program changes, but we need your help. Take action to stop the cuts today!
ASHA Highlights Key Funding Priorities in Congressional Testimony
With potential budget cuts looming, ASHA has urged the House panel that oversees health and education funding to support key programs that ensure access to audiology and speech-language pathology services. In written congressional testimony [PDF], ASHA highlighted
- the importance of maintaining federal funding for newborn hearing screenings;
- services and support for students with disabilities; and
- research on hearing, balance, speech, and language disorders.
New Resources Help SLPs Navigate Value-Based Care
A key challenge in value-based care is aligning expectations between providers and payers. As health care shifts toward value-based care, ASHA and its partner organizations—the American Occupational Therapy Association and the American Physical Therapy Association—have developed two new resources that help providers and payers navigate value-based payment arrangements for therapy services. SLPs may face limited access to data or unclear expectations, and payers may not fully recognize the impact of therapy services. These resources help address those gaps by promoting shared understanding, consistent metrics, and more effective collaboration.
Advocating in the States
Across the country, ASHA Advocacy is addressing challenges that directly affect reimbursement, workload, and ability to deliver care—helping protect members’ practices and patients’ access to services. Recent efforts include those listed below. ASHA did all of this!
- Idaho: Advocacy win! Successfully pushed back against proposed Idaho Medicaid cuts, helping (a) preserve coverage of audiology and speech-language pathology services and (b) maintain access to care alongside partners in the Idaho Speech, Language, Hearing Association.
- Connecticut: Partnered with the Connecticut Speech-Language-Hearing Association to protect access to outpatient speech-language pathology services by opposing a Medicaid policy [PDF] that (a) violates the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), (b) creates unnecessary administrative burdens, and (c)risks delaying or denying medically necessary care for children receiving services across school and clinical settings.
- Tennessee: Partnered with the Tennessee Association of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists to (a) fight recoupments tied to Tennessee Medicaid–related enrollment requirements [PDF] and (b) urge recognition of provisional licensees, including clinical fellows, as qualified providers.
- Georgia: Partnered with the Georgia Speech-Language-Hearing Association to urge Georgia Medicaid to stop harmful payment cuts [PDF] for speech therapy services.
- Arkansas: Partnered with the Arkansas Speech-Language-Hearing Association to push for access to medically necessary care by urging Arkansas policymakers to expand adult Medicaid coverage [PDF] to include audiology and speech-language pathology services.
- Kansas: Partnered with the Kansas Speech-Language-Hearing Association to support HB 2761, which the Kansas legislature has signed into law and which establishes licensure for speech-language pathology assistants (SLPAs).
- Vermont: Submitted a letter [PDF] in response to Vermont House Joint Resolution 9, which urged ASHA to reconsider its position on the Rapid Prompting Method (RPM). Currently, ASHA does not recommend the use of RPM due to a lack of scientific validity and concerns regarding prompt dependency and authorship.
ASHA Working for You
- Encouraging increased advocacy engagement by providing a federal legislative update to CSD students from Florida international University.
- Promoting student access to audiology and speech-language pathology services by signing several letters to congressional leaders. These letters stress that ASHA supports increased funding for important education programs like IDEA.
- Calling for diversity of clinical perspectives in federal lawmaking by signing a letter to leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In this letter, ASHA asks non-physician clinicians to serve as witnesses at relevant congressional hearings.
- Highlighting political advocacy for the professions by releasing the 2025 Annual Report of the ASHA Political Action Committee (ASHA-PAC).
Find more comments and testimony letters on ASHA's website.
Spotlight!
ASHA Advocacy partnered with members of the Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia and CSD students from George Washington University as these powerful advocates brought real-life problems and solutions to their legislators. Thanks so much for your advocacy!
Resource Highlight
Find data for each state, including the number of practicing audiologists and SLPs, workforce demand, accredited programs, and employment settings. ASHA’s freshly updated State Quick Fact Sheets are a helpful resource for advocates!
