Individuals with disabilities are significantly more likely to be employed if they live in a state that has expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, a new study has found. The findings show expansion has allowed individuals with disabilities to increase their employment and not be required to live in total poverty to maintain their Medicaid coverage. Expansion not only enables people with disabilities to work more, which research has shown leads to greater quality of life, but contradicts the argument some have made that Medicaid expansion would “kill jobs” or be prohibitively expensive.

“Our finding has two major health and policy implications. First, in Medicaid expansion states, working-age adults with disabilities no longer will be required to be impoverished and apply for federal disability benefits to be eligible for public health insurance coverage,” the researchers wrote. “Second, to the extent that increased earnings and asset accumulation lead to improved health outcomes and decreased dependence on cash assistance, the shift from means-tested Medicaid coverage to expansion coverage could result in long-term cost savings to state and federal governments.”

Debate about the Affordable Care Act has been intense and discussions of repealing or replacing it have intensified since the election. This article sheds a great deal of light on the importance of the ACA and its impact on Medicaid expansion across the nation, both for states that have opted to expand Medicaid and those still considering this option.

“Medicaid expansion is empowering people with disabilities to go to work, and we would hate to see that rolled back because we could lose those gains.” – Jean Hall  [Read more…]

• Thursday, October 6, 2016; 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Eastern
• Register online

Join this webinar to gain information you can use about Customizing Employment: Success through Partnerships. This webinar is particularly relevant for people who are involved in implementing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), directly or as a partner. Participants will gain insight on approaches and strategies for customizing employment by leveraging the resources of the workforce system and its partners (e.g., vocational rehabilitation, education, developmental disabilities, behavioral health, Medicaid, etc.).

This webinar will highlight opportunities for collaborations that enable people who experience barriers to employment, including youth and adults with disabilities, to use Customized Employment strategies to achieve employment outcomes. This is the first webinar in the LEAD Center’s Customized Employment webinar series, which will share practices that are being successfully implemented in different parts of the country and will provide resources to assist participants in replicating Customized Employment approaches.  [Read more…]

Just think about it: 575 days in limbo, struggling to pay bills, the stress mounting on your shoulders. 575 days of uncertainty, while basic needs go unmet. 575 days is far too long for our Social Security Administration to leave people’s lives in jeopardy.

But that’s the alarming reality. Today, a record one million Americans are waiting over 575 days on average for a hearing on their Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability claims. These historic delays can be devastating. While waiting, many people struggle to pay their rent or mortgage, to cover their medical bills, and to put food on the table. Some lose their housing, and some even die.

Today’s backlog exists because Social Security’s operating budget has been cut by over 10 percent since 2010, while workloads have increased as the baby boomers age. In fact, Social Security has been forced to cut back on services across the board. Since 2010 Social Security has closed more than 60 field offices and 500 mobile offices.

Now, Congress is considering even more cuts. A funding bill in the House of Representatives would cut Social Security’s operating budget by over $250 million in 2017.

The impact would be even more devastating.

More people with disabilities would wait longer for a hearing on their Social Security and SSI claims. Under the House bill, the Social Security Administration would need to close all its offices for two weeks, since all employees would be furloughed. And a hiring freeze would lead to longer wait times and delays in all parts of our Social Security retirement, survivors’, and disability system. The Senate version of the bill provides slightly more funding, but still fails to address many critical agency resource needs.

Social Security should be there for us when we need it.

That’s why we need you to contact your Members of Congress and tell them to fully fund the Social Security Administration.

President Obama has requested (PDF) funding for 2017 that would allow Social Security to begin reducing the disability claims backlog and to reduce other agency service delays.

Call your Members of Congress. Tell them:

• I urge you to vote to fully fund the Social Security Administration’s operating budget, at the levels requested in President Obama’s 2017 budget.
• Today, over 1 million people with disabilities are waiting over 575 days on average for a hearing on their Social Security and Supplemental Security Income disability claims. This is an all-time high. Most people have little to no income while waiting for a hearing, and run the risk of financial ruin and worsening health the longer they wait.
• Social Security’s operating budget has been reduced by 10 percent from 2010 levels. Any further cuts will lead to even longer, more devastating waits and reduced service to the public.
• Americans cannot afford a Social Security Administration that is underfunded and understaffed.
• Please ensure that Social Security’s operating budget is fully funded for 2017 at levels the President has requested.

Thursday, June 30, 2016; 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern

Join the LEAD Center on June 30th for an inaugural Twitter chat on Promoting Inclusive Career Pathways!

Over the next several months, the LEAD Center will focus on strategies and practices to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities, and others who face barriers to employment, in career pathways initiatives. The goal of this Twitter chat is to give you the opportunity to inform our work, either by posing questions you’d like answered, letting us know about your successes, or identifying barriers.

To join the Twitter chat, use the hashtag #LEADChat or visit the LEAD Center’s Twitter page (@LEADCtr).

If you’re new to Twitter chats, this step-by-step guide will help you learn the basics. Twitter Chats 101: A Step-by-Step Guide to Joining a Twitter Chat.

You are the expert!

As an employment service professional, we know that you have a lot to say about working with employers and supporting jobseekers, including individuals with disabilities. We want to learn from you!

Please help us better understand the successes and challenges that you experience in your job by completing our anonymous survey. It will take approximately 20 minutes.

Why are we asking you to do this? And who is asking?

• We are the Diversity Partners Project of the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
• We are developing an online learning tool for professionals like you to support your work.
• The Diversity Partners tools and resources will provide strategies to help you and your organization develop strong relationships with business and better support jobseekers with disabilities.
• We need to learn about your real-life experiences to make these tools and resources the best they can be. For you.

Your time is valuable! As a token of our appreciation for your completion of the survey, you may choose to enter into a drawing to win an iPad Mini. More information on this is provided at the end of the survey.

• Take the survey

Participation in the survey is completely voluntary and anonymous. Your answers to open-ended questions may be used verbatim in Diversity Partners materials, but with no identifying information. There are no anticipated risks associated with your decision to participate in the survey. Funding for this project comes from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). If you have any questions concerning the survey, please contact Carolina Harris: [email protected].

• Thursday, April 28, 2016; 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. Eastern
• Register online

April is Financial Capability Month. The White House has encouraged Americans to “recommit to equipping individuals with the knowledge and protections necessary to secure a stable financial future for themselves and their families.” To support you in your efforts to equip the individuals you serve with the financial knowledge they need to improve their employment and economic advancement outcomes, the LEAD Center is offering a webinar that brings together representatives from the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA); Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP); the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation); and the City of Louisville’s Metro Community Services workgroup on Workforce and Financial Empowerment. Join us to learn about financial literacy tools and resources, along with implementation strategies to integrate within your employment and workforce development services.  [Read more…]

As part of the federal government’s continued efforts to become a model employer of people with disabilities, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (PDF) outlining specific actions for federal agencies to take to comply with their obligations under Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act. The disability community has incredibly high rates of unemployment, and this is one of several recent efforts to increase the participation of people with disabilities in the federal workforce. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) builds on recent efforts and combines requirements from a variety of sources (Executive Orders, sub-regulatory documents, and management directives) into one rule.

The EEOC is accepting comments on the NPRM through Monday, April 25. In addition to the NPRM, they have also published a summary and a questions and answers document. NCIL will be submitting comments, and we strongly encourage NCIL members to do the same!

Specifically, the NPRM proposes requiring federal agencies to adopt the goal of achieving a 12% representation rate for people with disabilities, and a 2% rate for people with targeted / severe disabilities (see the questions and answers document for more information on targeted disabilities). With people with disabilities making up approximately 20% of the country’s population, we strongly believe that in order to be a model employer, the government’s employment goals should more accurately represent the proportion of Americans with disabilities. In order for the goals to be achievable but also actually increase federal employment levels of people with disabilities, we will be submitting comments to recommend that the goals for representation be set at no less than 15% for people with disabilities, and 4% for people with targeted / severe disabilities.

Comments are due on Monday, April 25. You can submit your comments online (identified by RIN 3046-AA94), by faxing (up to six pages) to (202) 663-4114, or by mail to Bernadette Wilson, Executive Officer, Executive Secretariat, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 131 M Street NE, Washington, DC 20507.