Date of Award

Spring 2025

Thesis Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Honors Bachelor of Arts

Department

Interdisciplinary Studies

Sponsor

Dr. Andrés Romero

Committee Member

Dr. Phil Kozel, Dr. Anne Stone

Committee Member

Dr. Patrick Rickert

Abstract

This thesis critically examines the impact of neoliberal healthcare policies on Americans with disabilities, revealing how ostensibly neutral policies reinforce ableist ideologies and systemic exclusion. Using Critical Discourse Analysis and grounded in the frameworks of biopolitics and intersectionality, this study examines two case studies: the COVID-19 Pandemic and the public health insurance program, Medicaid. The first case study analyzes Crisis Standards of Care, the vaccination rollout, and Medicaid disenrollment after the COVID-19 Pandemic, exposing how people with disabilities were deprioritized from life-saving medical resources. The second case study critiques Medicaid’s neoliberal framework through non-expansion states, Section 1115 waivers, and the Limit, Save, Grow Act, emphasizing how work requirements and cost-cutting measures disproportionately harm disabled communities. Through my intersectional lens, this thesis highlights how race, class, and gender intersect with disability to increase vulnerability among marginalized demographics. Neoliberal health policies overtly and covertly reinforce ableism by emphasizing personal responsibility while ignoring systemic inequities. Furthermore, this thesis demonstrates how the government exercises biopolitical decision-making by prioritizing able-bodied lives through neoliberal policy and discourse.

Rights Holder

Elizabeth Swartz

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Available for download on Monday, May 10, 2027

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