Who We Are
Garden State Coalition for Care (GSCC) is an alliance of advocates and organizations from across the state of New Jersey dedicated to empowering and supporting people with disabilities, older adults, and low-income families and individuals to make better lives for themselves
Medicaid funding cuts and related provisions of H.R.1, such as burdensome eligibility checks and work requirements, threaten to devastate the lives of millions in New Jersey.
These developments endanger decades of progress toward independence, self-determination, and civil rights. They will limit community options and force people back into institutions — whether jails, psychiatric hospitals, detention centers, or nursing homes.
Coalition members share their expertise to educate and mobilize each other and help the people who are most at risk of harm, including people with disabilities or anyone whose health and well-being depends on programs such as Medicaid.
We will:
Develop unified messaging to counter misinformation.
Create tools and guidance to help individuals prepare for new requirements and maintain Medicaid coverage.
Engage policymakers on how they plan to preserve Medicaid, disability rights, and community-based supports.
We envision a New Jersey where everyone can live as independently as possible in the community of their choice.
“Losing Medicaid would make keeping Jessica alive impossible, let alone give her any quality of life she deserves.
“My sister Jessica is developmentally disabled. I became her guardian when our mother passed away. At the time, I was young. The job I had barely kept me alive, let alone a disabled adult requiring 24/7 supervision. Turning Jessica over to state care was the hardest thing I ever did.
Since then, my wife and I have done our part. We have sat by her bedside at the hospital at the cost of sleep, work, and sanity. We have been involved every step, but we are not doctors, or pharmacists, or nurses, or DSPs. Jessica, like most developmentally disabled adults, needs services that we are not equipped to provide while doing the things expected of us as adults like maintaining jobs. Currently, Medicaid pays for her house and 24/7 nursing supervision which she requires since she fell over a year ago.
Without Medicaid, Jessica will be homeless. Assuming we take her in, either myself or my wife would have to quit our job to take care of her. Without Medicaid, we would need to help pay for her medications. If we paid for nothing else, utilities, food, taxes, etc, we would not make enough to cover her medication for a year and she would die in front of me.”
Jason, Jessica’s Brother
Contact the GSCC
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