Topeka ? Hundreds of disabled individuals, along with their families and their advocates, rallied at the Statehouse on Thursday to call for full funding of social services that they rely on to continue living independently.

Many of those attending were people with physical and developmental disabilities that are so severe they qualify under Medicaid to live in nursing homes or other long-term care facilities. But with certain kinds of non-medical assistance known as “home and community based services,” they are able to live on their own or with their families. Those services include things like help with personal hygiene, house cleaning, and monitoring a person’s sleep and medication.

Although Kansas lawmakers have not yet proposed cuts to those services — in fact, the state’s total social services budget is expected to grow by $138 million — advocates for those individuals say they worry that cuts could be right around the corner as lawmakers grapple with trying to fill a $422 million budget hole for next year.

Lawrence resident Rachel Blann, right, hugs her facilitator, Roxana Covarrubias, of Lawrence, during a rally for those protesting potential cuts to disability services, Thursday, April 30, 2015, on the south side of the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka. Several hundred Kansans with disabilities and advocates for disability services went to the Capitol to speak with lawmakers, who are in the middle of attempting to balance the state budget.

“When we see looming problems in achieving a tax package that could pay the bills, one of the things you have to think about is where they can cut,” said Tom Laing, executive director of Interhab, a Topeka-based organization that advocates for the rights of people with developmental disabilities. “And with Medicaid being such a big chunk of the budget, we don’t want to see them balancing the budget on the backs of Medicaid.”

Among those attending the rally were staff and clients of Cottonwood, Inc., of Lawrence, which provides direct services to people with developmental disabilities and their families.

“We are feeling the crunch of this because the people we support, the majority of them, are funded through Medicaid,” said Peggy Wallert, director of community relations at Cottonwood.

Individuals with severe disabilities are automatically entitled to nursing home care under Medicaid. But even though home- and community-based services are less expensive, states can cap the number of people who receive them. As a result, in Kansas, there are often long waiting lists for people to receive those services.

Another problem, Laing said, is that while more and more individuals are trying to access those services, the reimbursement rates that the state provides to the caregivers has not changed in several years.

“This budget would guarantee our 10th and 11th years of no rate adjustment,” Laing said. “And when the cost of doing business and the cost of hiring employees continues to go up, and our funding stays the same as it was in the early part of this century, then we lose ground.”

Rep. Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said House leaders are committed to funding the social services budget that has been proposed so far. But he said the big question is whether lawmakers will approve the tax increases needed to fund the budget.

“It’s all predicated on folks coming together and passing a revenue package,” Ryckman said.

Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka, the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s budget panel, was less optimistic.

“If we don’t do what we need to do in the tax committees, then we’ll have to go back (to the budget),” Kelly said. “I think people are reluctant to do too much more damage to schools, and the next biggest pot is Medicaid.”