The Disability Cost-of-Living Crunch: When you’ve cut everything and still can’t live

Affordability has remained a major national concern through the past two election cycles.

Americans continue to wrestle with the cost of housing, food, health care and other necessities. Those worries are carrying into the 2026 midterms. Approximately 84% of registered voters surveyed by Pew Research Center this fall said the economy was very important to their vote, making it the top issue among both Republican- and Democratic-leaning voters. Earlier polling also singled out cost of living and affordability as especially prominent concerns, suggesting that household expenses will be an important consideration for voters this election.

The cost of living has continued to rise. Consumer prices increased 3.7% over the 12 months ending in September 2026, affecting how Americans live, work and eat, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But for Disabled people, higher prices can compound expenses and needs that aren’t optional. Many are stretching tight budgets, relying on friends and neighbors, and finding new ways to meet their most basic needs.

One of them is Mason Douglas, 38, a peer specialist living in rural upstate New York. Last summer, Douglas lost SNAP and HEAP after his income rose above the eligibility limits. In September 2026, he also lost Medicaid, which had provided medical transportation through MAS and made him eligible for additional supports, including food programs.

Since losing Medicaid, those costs have shifted directly to him. In October 2026 alone, Douglas said he had accumulated $475 in copays for medications and telehealth appointments. He still needs two blood draws, each carrying another $50 copay. He won’t get anything done if he can’t find transportation to the lab.

“It’s not just that things are more expensive, but I lost a lot of the safety net that was in place,” he explained. “I went from trying to manage my health care through Medicaid, and now I’m trying to figure out which health care access to simply not go to ’cause I can’t afford it or get to.”

Douglas was forced to slash a strained grocery budget even further — one he recognized was already not meeting his needs. He generally tries to allocate about $200 a month for groceries, but that’s not a fixed amount. If he can’t get a ride to a grocery store or food pantry, he may use some of the money for other expenses instead. If the food pantry doesn’t provide enough, he stretches what he has until he can restock his food supply. The price of a basic staple can depend on where he can get a ride. He estimated that a 16-ounce jar of peanut butter could cost about $5.50 at Aldi but around $7 at Dollar General.

When his grocery budget falls short, neighbors sometimes supplement what he has with extra produce, such as tomatoes from their gardens. “Is that still going to get me through the next two weeks? Absolutely not. So I’ll have to kind of just make it work with what I have.”

What happens when cutting back affects more than food? Across interviews with Disabled adults around the country, the trade-offs varied but followed a similar pattern: People are going without necessities, health care, transportation and ordinary parts of daily life while trying to preserve expenses they simply couldn’t do without.

Disabled Americans face the same increases in food, housing, energy and transportation as everyone else, while many also have disability-related expenses other households don’t have. For some, rising costs mean fewer outings or buying less food. For others, the compromise includes medical care, personal assistance or other basic needs.

A Different Financial Starting Point

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, annual estimates based on 11 months of data for 2025 show that 22.8% of people with disabilities were employed, compared with 65.2% of people without disabilities. Among employed people age 16 and older, about 30% of Disabled workers usually worked part time, compared with about 17% of workers without disabilities.

Earlier research shows that the cost of living was high for Disabled people even before the current squeeze. A study in the Journal of Disability Policy Studies first published in 2021 estimated that a household containing an adult with a work disability needed about 29% more income to achieve the same standard of living as a comparable household without a Disabled member. Researchers attributed the difference to additional disability-related costs, including health care, personal assistance, housing and transportation. The National Disability Institute has also examined the extra costs of living with a disability.

For Tiana, 33, of Windsor, Colorado, those pressures play out on a fixed income. She receives SSDI but said her entire monthly check doesn’t cover her rent. Rising costs have also forced her to reduce what she spends on food and over-the-counter medications.

“My fixed income makes any changes in the cost of living devastating,” Tiana, who asked that we not use her last name, wrote to DJA. “I’ve had to decrease my food purchases and cannot afford most nonfood purchases.”

For her, one of these nonessentials — yet much-valued acquisitions — is birthday cards for friends and family.

When Cutting Back Changes Daily Life

For Gregory Woodruff, 63, of Maryland Heights, Missouri, the financial adjustments encompass more than food. He’s cut back on social activities while struggling to afford the assistance that helps him get out of bed and into his mobility device. Not only does Woodruff rarely get out to socialize with friends, but he also goes without some essentials.

“I can’t really afford shoes,” he admitted. “Um, so I don’t even have a pair of shoes.”

Cheryl Powell, 48, of Wilmington, North Carolina, described another kind of loss. Powell, who has cerebral palsy, said she has cut back on groceries while coping with $1,600 in monthly rent and the financial hardship surrounding her husband, Billy’s, serious illness. He’s receiving care at a hospital two hours from their home. Powell’s weekly hotel bill is around $800. She has to travel to and from the hospital each day, and there are also food costs to consider. She’s thankful that her family has stepped in to help.

“I can’t afford to go out. I’m certainly not going out to eat. I’m certainly not going to movies,” she said.

Woodruff relies on personal assistance for day-to-day living. He has scheduled therapy or hydrotherapy appointments only to cancel them because he didn’t have someone available to help him get out of bed and into his mobility device.

The Expenses You Can’t Cut

For Lia, 26, of Milwaukee, medication isn’t something she can go without. After aging off her parents’ health insurance, their medication costs rose from about $75 a month to at least $125 to $150. They estimate their prescription deductible is about $10,000, so they use GoodRx for one medication, bringing its cost to about $45. They can no longer afford to fill three-month supplies because the upfront expense is too high — something they said is especially inconvenient because they have ADHD.

“I don’t have the luxury of not paying. I need my meds or else I’m completely nonfunctional,” they said.

Lia, who works as an administrator at a nonprofit, also sees a psychiatrist and attends therapy twice a week. They described themselves as “living functionally paycheck to paycheck.”

For Lia, Tiana, Douglas, Powell, Woodruff and so many others, their circumstances and disabilities differ, but the pressure point is much the same. When essential expenses consume an already tight budget, the choices that remain become smaller and more consequential. Cutting back stops being about extras and starts changing where people go, what care they receive and how fully they can participate in everyday life.

The cost of living isn’t just measured in dollars and cents. It’s reflected in meals, appointments, shoes, nights out and time spent with others.

“It’s a kind of a lonely existence,” Woodruff said. “You know, I’m a people person.”

And when the numbers don’t add up, people can end up socially isolated, feeling alone and disconnected from the communities and activities that once filled their lives.

Editor’s note: Over the coming days, DJA will examine several issues that are effectively on the ballot Nov. 3 for Disabled people.