Wages and Benefits

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides new but limited opportunities to promote or fund specialized transportation services for older people and adults with disabilities. This paper explains how states can use these largely untapped options to expand services for targeted low-income populations with mobility needs. It also presents two case studies illustrating how the Atlanta region and the state of Connecticut are making this work.

As low-income adults covered under Medicaid expansion become eligible for and transition into Medicare, these individuals will face higher cost-sharing requirements. This report describes programs and policy options that could help low-income Medicare beneficiaries.

This GAO report examines 1) the extent to which states have Supplemental Security Income/Disability Insurance (SSI/DI) advocacy contracts with private organizations; 2) how SSI/DI advocacy practices compare across selected sites; and 3) the key controls the Social Security Administration has to ensure these organizations follow SSI/DI program rules and regulations. The GAO identified 16 states with some type of SSI/DI advocacy contract in 2014.

This study focuses on understanding the rates and patterns of enrollment in Medicaid among individuals already enrolled in Medicare, the factors that predict this transition to dual coverage, and those that predict nursing home entry. This volume of this report is a descriptive examination of the number and characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries who transition to dual coverage in the coming year.

To answer questions on what services and barriers people with psychiatric disorders face, the authors conducted two targeted literature reviews: (1) employment programs and outcomes for people with psychiatric disorders; and (2) employment programs for people with other disabilities. The authors also examined literature and policy documents that outlined funding options for employment services for people with psychiatric disorders and other disabilities.

Shifting the balance in publicly-funded long-term care provision away from institutional care toward greater reliance on home and community-based services has been a federal goal for the past three decades -- a goal often referred to as "re-balancing" state LTC systems. This report explores inter-state variations in LTC expenditure and service use patterns, in terms of institutional and non-institutional services, and also by Medicaid LTC users' age and type of disability.

Access to affordable health insurance is essential to the ability of people with disabilities to seek and maintain employment. As their income fluctuates, people may migrate between Medicaid and Marketplace coverage, and they may face changes in their benefits and out-of-pocket responsibilities as a consequence. This issue brief uses hypothetical examples of working people with disabilities to illustrate the experiences they might have with Medicaid and Marketplace coverage in four states.

Although Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits are an important support to many people with disabilities, modifications to programs are under consideration given current and projected governmental fiscal constraints. This article provides data about levels of safety net cross-participation among working age SSDI and SSI program participants and estimates how changes to disability benefit levels might influence their economic security.

In this brief, the authors summarize key features of the Social Security Disability Insurance program and describe some of the salient issues policymakers will need to consider to address the projected depletion of the SSDI Trust Fund in 2016. They also discuss the eligibility criteria for the program, benefit levels, and beneficiaries' ability to work.

This report provides statistics and information about uninsured individuals in the Medicaid coverage gap. The Medicaid gap is a term used to describe uninsured individuals who do not have enough income to qualify for ACA subsidies and who live in a state that has elected not to expand their Medicaid program. According to the Kaiser report, approximately four million individuals are in the Medicaid gap across the country. Of the uninsured individuals, 17% are in the 55-64 age range.