Julia Métraux
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@MotherJones reporter covering disability • she/her • Say hello: jmetraux@motherjones.com • On here for research
Articles by Julia Métraux
California Does Medicaid Home Care Well. They’re Being Punished For It.
On July 21, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads Medicaid programs federally, announced they’re deferring over $850 million from the state of California over its Medicaid-funded home and community-based services program called In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS). The Trump administration has attacked IHSS for the program’s growth over the past decade. Their argument: the program is so successful there must be rampant fraud.
The Only Research Center For Disabled Parents Is Losing Federal Funding
Researchers and staff involved with Brandeis University’s National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities have learned that they will not be able to apply for continued federal funding, likely forcing the center’s operations to stop when current funding runs out at the end of August.
Polio Made Mitch McConnell MAHA’s Enemy
On Sunday, after four weeks of absence from Congress caused by a medical emergency—which led to extensive speculation about his health—Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) released a letter to his constituents saying that his hospitalization was the consequence of a fall. The 84-year-old former Senate Majority Leader noted that he has lifelong mobility issues related to a childhood case of polio.
Polio Made Mitch McConnell MAHA’s Enemy
Kathleen Williams 4 hours ago Judge voids Donald Trump's 'improper' $1.8b IRS settlement that gave him immunity from tax audits bbc.co.uk - Bernd Debusmann Jr • 4h A US judge has voided a legal agreement between President Donald Trump and federal agencies that granted him immunity from tax audits and allowed his administration to create a since-abandoned $1.8bn (£1.3bn) "anti-weaponisation" fund.
Lawsuit Accuses ICE and Private Prison Contractors of Abusing a Disabled Detainee
On Monday, Ulises Peña López, represented by Disability Law United and Pangea Legal Services, sued the US government and private prison contractors GeoGroup and CoreCivic over his arrest by ICE officers and his following treatment in ICE detention facilities. Peña López was deported to Mexico in October 2025 after spending over six months in ICE detention.
Palantir Has a Hand in NIH’s Most Ambitious Health Initiative
During his 2015 State of the Union address, then-President Barack Obama announced what he promised would be an ambitious public health project. “Tonight, I’m launching a new Precision Medicine Initiative to bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes, and to give all of us access to the personalized information we need to keep ourselves and our families healthier,” Obama said with confidence. “We can do this.” He was met with applause.
Venezuela’s Earthquake-Hit Health System Is in Crisis
It’s been a very long week for Beatriz Armada, the Venezuela operations manager for the humanitarian nonprofit Humanity and Inclusion. Hers is just one of many non-governmental organizations that have been responding to the devastation of two massive earthquakes that struck Venezuela last week, which have left, by a conservative estimate, some 1,700 people dead and thousands injured, with more than 15,000 displaced from their homes.
Tom Kean Jr. Sought Help for Depression. He Hasn’t Made It Easy for Others to Do the Same.
On Tuesday, US Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) returned to Congress after a four-month previously unexplained absence, during which he received his full salary despite missing over 100 votes. He revealed on the House floor that he sought treatment for depression. “I am grateful that I accepted help because today I stand before you healthier, stronger, and excited to return to the work that I love,” Kean said.
Tom Kean Jr. Sought Help for Depression. He Hasn’t Made It Easy for Others To Do the Same.
On Tuesday, US Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (D-NJ) returned to Congress after a four-month previously unexplained absence, during which he received his full salary despite missing over 100 votes. He revealed on the House floor that he sought treatment for depression. “I am grateful that I accepted help because today I stand before you healthier, stronger, and excited to return to the work that I love,” Kean said.
States Sue to Block Medicaid Work Requirements
On Monday, officials in 25 states and Washington, DC sued Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz over the interim final rule for Medicaid work requirements established by President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Trump DOJ Outlines Dubious Path to Force People Into Psychiatric Institutions
Families in Illinois are fighting to keep their disabled loved ones from being institutionalized. Video Still/ CBS News Video Editor’s note. This article originally appeared in Mother Jones HERE>, and is republished here with permission. On June 18, the Department of Justice quietly released a memo pertaining to the landmark 1999 disability civil rights case Olmstead v.
Senate Democrats Rally Against Pro-Institutionalization DOJ Memo
On Thursday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) will introduce a resolution that calls for the Department of Justice to rescind a memo issued last week that contests the longstanding interpretation of the Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead v. L.C. decision, a landmark case that limits states’ power to compel people to live in psychiatric and other institutions, such as nursing homes.
Trump DOJ Outlines Dubious Path to Force People Into Psychiatric Institutions
On Thursday, the Department of Justice quietly released a memo pertaining to the landmark 1999 disability civil rights case Olmstead v. L.C., which curtailed states’ power to institutionalize people diagnosed with mental illnesses, and related federal civil rights laws.
How Disability Shaped American Citizenship
We tend to treat disability politics as a modern phenomenon, the product of disability civil rights movements in the latter part of the 20th century.
RFK Jr. Will Oversee Disability Education Policy
On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that it would move two key functions of the Department of Education—disability education oversight and the department’s Office for Civil Rights—to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice, respectively, in a move that would give HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. oversight over the nation’s disability education system.
The White House Just Made Medicaid Work Requirements Even Worse
On Monday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its interim final rule on Medicaid work requirements, mandating that everyone who seeks Medicaid support has to prove they are unable to work to a greater extent, even if they have already been diagnosed with a debilitating condition like sickle cell disease—and even if they are already on Medicaid.
The ACA Affordability Crisis Congress Won’t Fix
Pennsylvania bike shop owner John Ronca has been buying health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace for over a decade. Last year, with enhanced ACA tax credits enacted under the Biden administration, the premiums for his gold plan—the second-highest tier, which includes lower deductibles and often more flexibility in seeing specialists—tripled. Ronca decided to go for a bronze plan with a higher deductible to make sure he, his wife, and his young daughter were still insured.
The Populist Paralympian Who Wants to Roll Into the Senate
It was the final quarter of a US men’s national wheelchair basketball game at the Tokyo Paralympics against Turkey in 2021. Josh Turek was benched for most of the game. Fouled soon after coming in, Turek sank both his free throws to widen the US’ two-point lead in a game it went on to win. Turek, who played in all eight US men’s games at that year’s Paralympics—the team went on to win gold—had no complaints about sitting out most of the game.
Supreme Court Leaves Rulings on Executing the Intellectually Disabled in Place
On Thursday, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to dismiss the Hamm v. Smith case, effectively upholding its rulings that people with intellectual disabilities should not be executed, and that IQ tests alone are not enough to determine whether someone has an intellectual disability. A one sentence, unsigned opinion held that the court’s earlier decision to hear the case was “improvidently granted.” Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, John Roberts, and Neil Gorsuch dissented.
Newsom’s Budget Shows He’s Not the Resistance Leader You Think He Is
Wheelchair user Julia Feinberg, who has spinal muscular atrophy, is very aware that she will need more assistance as she ages in Oakland. She lives independently thanks to the 600 hours of help she gets each month to have someone assist with daily tasks, like getting out of bed, grocery shopping, and preparing meals. If Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) gets his way, Feinberg risks losing the care that allows her to live an independent life.
Trump’s Deceitful Medicaid Fraud Campaign Comes to California
The Trump administration is withholding $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursement payments to California after officials alleged that the state failed to prosecute fraud in its own Medicaid program. “There are California taxpayers and American taxpayers who are being defrauded because California isn’t taking its program seriously,” JD Vance, vice president and designated “fraud czar” said in his Wednesday announcement.
The new frontiers of aging
This article first appeared on Mother Jones. It has been republished with the publication’s permission. Daniel Reilly takes 19 pills in the morning and 13 at night. He lives with hemophilia and HIV, which he contracted in the 1980s. No one expected him to live this long. In most respects, that’s a blessing—the product of generations of extraordinary medical advances. But it also means there are entire medical specialties he can’t find.
Report: Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights is Flunking
Last Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) released a report showing just how intensely the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights has failed students. The report found that there were zero resolution agreements in 2025 “involving sexual harassment, sexual violence, seclusion or restraint, racial harassment, or discriminatory school discipline.” Overall, just one percent of complaints submitted to the Ed Department’s OCR received a resolution agreement.
The New Frontiers of Aging
The New Frontiers of Aging Daniel Reilly takes 19 pills in the morning and 13 at night. He lives with hemophilia and HIV, which he contracted in the 1980s. No one expected him to live this long. In most respects, that’s a blessing—the product of generations of extraordinary medical advances. But it also means there are entire medical specialties he can’t find. Read Full Article »
Trump’s New Medicaid Work Requirements Are Here
On Friday, Nebraska became the first state to enact Medicaid work requirements, mandatory for states with Medicaid expansion due to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Notably, the state did it seven months before the deadline. Now, around 70,000 adults below the age of 65 in Nebraska who have Medicaid through its expansion could risk having their health insurance ripped away from them. Medicaid work requirements do not increase employment.
The New Frontiers of Aging
Daniel Reilly takes 19 pills in the morning and 13 at night. He lives with hemophilia and HIV, which he contracted in the 1980s. No one expected him to live this long. In most respects, that’s a blessing—the product of generations of extraordinary medical advances. But it also means there are entire medical specialties he can’t find.
FDA May Finally Make It Illegal to Shock Autistic Kids as Punishment
In March 2024, the Food and Drug Administration under President Joe Biden introduced a new rule that would have banned, after decades, the use of electric shocks on disabled children as a form of punishment.
FDA May Finally Make It Illegal to Shock Autistic Kids as Punishment
The FDA has been weighing whether to ban the use of electrical shocks on autistic kids for years.Andrew Harnik/AP Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. In March 2024, the Food and Drug Administration under President Joe Biden introduced a new rule that would have banned, after decades, the use of electric shocks on disabled children as a form of punishment.
Self Magazine shuttering means one less publication taking disability seriously
Three of the many Self Magazine articles discussing chronic illness and disability. Collage by James Salanga. This story was originally for Mother Jones and is republished with permission. Last week, the publishing conglomerate Condé Nast shuttered Self, a women’s health publication that in recent years had turned to publishing service journalism on chronic health conditions that was both practical and normalized living with chronic illness.
What RFK Jr. Doesn’t Get About Paid Family Care
While testifying in support of the Department of Health and Human Services’ budget before Congress this week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attacked home-and community-based services, a Medicaid-backed program that provides over seven million disabled people the support they need to remain out of institutions.
What We Lost When We Lost Self Magazine
Last week, the publishing conglomerate Condé Nast shuttered Self, a women’s health publication that in recent years had turned to publishing service journalism on chronic health conditions that was both practical and normalized living with chronic illness. Amid a trend of unrealistic articles on longevity and ambiguously defined, MAHA-coded writing on “wellness,” Self was a breath of fresh air.
Graham Platner apologizes for using the r-word
This article first appeared on Mother Jones. It has been republished with the publication’s permission. On Wednesday, MaineDemocratic Senate candidate Graham Platner apologized for using the r-word in an article in the Maine Monitor, saying that he is “sorry that I said it” and “I am endeavoring to improve every single day.” Platner used the r-word in the context of dismissing concerns that people had with his tattoo, a Totenkopf, a symbol that continues to be embraced by Neo-Nazis.
Graham Platner Apologizes for Using the R-Word
On Wednesday, Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner apologized for using the r-word in an article in the Maine Monitor, saying that he is “sorry that I said it” and “I am endeavoring to improve every single day.” Platner used the r-word in the context of dismissing concerns that people had with his tattoo, a Totenkopf, a symbol that continues to be embraced by Neo-Nazis.
Graham Platner claims he’s changed. Why is he still using the r-word?
This article first appeared on Mother Jones. It has been republished with the publication’s permission. Graham Platner could very well be the Democratic nominee running against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for her long-held Senate seat. Platner’s run has not been without controversy, to put it lightly. A tattoo that Platner had, a Totenkopf, was worn by Nazis and is still a symbol embraced by Neo-Nazis today.
Graham Platner Claims He’s Changed. Why Is He Still Using the R-Word?
Graham Platner could very well be the Democratic nominee running against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for her long-held Senate seat. Platner’s run has not been without controversy, to put it lightly. A tattoo that Platner had, a Totenkopf, was worn by Nazis and is still a symbol embraced by Neo-Nazis today.
Trump’s Math Behind Medicaid Fraud Claims Doesn’t Add Up — Literally
The Trump administration is bad at math. On Friday, the Associated Press reported that an administration official admitted to miscounting how many people in New York receive care through home and community-based services by millions. Home and community-based services were established during the Reagan administration, Like the name suggests, these services help disabled people stay in their communities instead of institutions.
HHS Directly Gives Crisis Pregnancy Centers Millions of Dollars
The US Department of Health and Human Services gave at least $34 million directly to 16 crisis pregnancy centers between 2018 and 2024, according to a US Government Accountability Office report publicly released on Wednesday.
Hold off on Celebrating Trump’s Proposal to Increase Disability Education Funding
On Friday, President Donald Trump released his budget proposal for the fiscal year 2027. Surprisingly, given the cuts that would be necessary to fund the $1.5 trillion the Trump administration is asking for military spending, the budget also included over $500 million more funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, for a total of over $16 billion.
Nurul Amin Shah Alam’s Death Was a Homicide
On Wednesday, the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office announced that it ruled the death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Blind Rohingya refugee who was left on the freezing streets of Buffalo by Border Patrol officers, a homicide. Neither Shah Alam’s family, who had waited to meet him outside the facility where he was being held, nor his lawyers, who had been attempting to contact him, were notified of his location. Shah Alam spoke very little English.
Dr. Oz Calls Medicare Fraud an Epidemic. Trump Keeps Pardoning the Culprits.
On Tuesday, the oversight and investigations arm of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing to discuss alleged Medicare and Medicaid fraud—a major talking point of the Trump administration and Robert F. Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services, which have deployed fraud claims to help justify cuts to critical funding and programs used by a huge swath of aging, disabled, and low-income Americans.
New England Cherishes Its Local Elections.
More than 400 anti-voting measures have been introduced in 48 states in recent years. Nation-wide, voters with disabilites want to see these issues addressed as they rally for their rights. Video Still PBS News Hour. This article was originally published in Mother Jones and can be viewed here. “It’s a really heartbreaking example of who gets left behind in systems that are not built for everyone.” Kate Larose will not be able to participate in Vermont’s Town Meeting Day.
ICE Locked Up a Deaf Kid Without His Hearing Aids—And Wouldn’t Let Him Have Them Back
When six-year-old Joseph Rodriguez got sick, his mother had to bring him along to her regular check-in at a California ICE office. There, last week, he was immediately detained and quickly deported—all without his hearing aids. Rodriguez is Deaf; he and his mother Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, an asylum seeker from Colombia fleeing domestic violence, live in the congressional district of Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who sent staff to Colombia over the weekend to return Rodriguez’ assistive devices.
New York is investigating the death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam
On Friday, the Buffalo-based Investigative Post reported that New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating the death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Blind Rohingya refugee who died in the cold streets of Buffalo days after Border Patrol dumped him without coordinating with his family or lawyers. In a letter to Rep.
Nurul Amin Shah Alam, Blind Rohingya Refugee Dumped by Border Patrol, Dies in Cold
On Tuesday evening, Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Blind, seriously ill Rohingya refugee from Burma who does not speak English, was found dead in Buffalo—five days after Border Patrol dropped him off on a street corner without notifying his family, who had moved away from the area. He was 56.
The political world of caregiving
It’s an old adage: when people get married, they promise to stick together “in sickness and in health.” But that’s easier said than done when you’re caregiving for a spouse or long-term partner, when systemic failures often lead to burnout.
Snowstorms Are Hell for Wheelchair Users-But They Don’t Have to Be Original
It took over a week for Mia Ives-Rublee, a wheelchair user and senior director of the Center for American Progress’s disability justice initiative, to be able to move more than a block past her home after one of the country’s most extensive winter storms in years hit her home of Washington, DC, at the end of January.
HHS will allow pharmacies to boycott lifesaving drugs used in medication abortion
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, the Biden administration enforced a rule in 2022 mandating that retail pharmacies receiving any federal funding had to carry and dispense mifepristone, misoprostol, and methotrexate—drugs used in medication abortions and, in the case of methotrexate, the treatment of ectopic pregnancies and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus—in order not to discriminate on the basis of sex and disability.
Trump’s USDA Is Hiding the Data on Food Stamp Cuts
On December 1, under President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—which more than 40 million Americans rely on—introduced new work requirements for people verging on retirement age.
House passes three-year ACA extension
On Thursday, in a rebuke to the GOP party line, the House of Representatives voted 230-196 to extend the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium subsidies for three more years. 17 Republicans defected to join all Democrats in voting for the legislation, after the end of the subsidies sparked the longest-ever federal government shutdown late last year.
Hero of 2025: Alice Wong
The staff of Mother Jones is, once again, rounding up the heroes and monsters of the past year. This is a non-exhaustive and totally subjective list, giving our reporters a chance to write about something that brought joy, discontent, or curiosity. Happy holidays. Alice Wong, disabled oracle and disability justice leader, died on November 14 at the age of 51. Alice, who had spinal muscular atrophy, will be the subject of a hybrid celebration of her life in the coming spring.
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