Congress
moves to help disabled seeking work
5.55 a.m. ET (1004 GMT) October 20, 1999
The House on Tuesday voted 412-9 for the bill that would allow Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries to keep their Medicare coverage for up to 10 years after getting a job. That's six years beyond the current law.
The Senate has passed a similar bill and President Clinton is urging Congress to send him a bill that ensures continued health benefits to working people with disabilities.
"Almost three out of four Americans with severe disabilities who want to work are not working,'' Clinton said in a statement. "One of the biggest barriers these Americans face is the fear of losing their health insurance when they get a job.''
"This is the most dramatic breakthrough for Americans with disabilities since the Americans with Disabilities Act,'' said Rep. Rick Lazio, R-N.Y., the chief sponsor. That 1990 act required businesses and offices to make facilities more accessible to the disabled.
"Millions of Americans are awaiting eagerly to unleash their creativity and to pursue the American dream,'' he said.
Congressional auditors estimate that 35,000 people will find jobs over the next 10 years with the help of the legislation. The bill will also more than quadruple, to 550,000, the number of people who will receive rehabilitation and employment services over the next decade. The nation has some 9 million disabled adults.
Rep. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said that if one percent of those with disabilities move off welfare programs as a result of the bill the government would save $3 billion over the lifetime of those benefits. "We want people to take the risk to work.''
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who led efforts to pass the Senate bill, said the House bill was a significant step toward opening the workplace doors for the disabled. He urged the convening of a House-Senate conference as early as this week so that a compromise bill can be passed before Congress adjourns this year.
One difference is that the Senate grants lifetime Medicare for SSDI recipients who go to work, but only during the next six years. They also come up with different ways to pay for the costs of the bill, which for the House bill is expected to total $323 million over five years.
The bills would also give states the option of extending Medicaid to those in the Supplemental Security Income program for low-income people, allowing them to pay premiums as their income grows.
The legislation would provide disability beneficiaries with a "ticket'' that can be used to purchases services to enter the workforce. To increase competition, those with disabilities could choose between government and privately run rehabilitation programs.
Nine Republicans — John Doolittle of California, David McIntosh of Indiana, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Sam Johnson and Ron Paul of Texas, and Utah's James Hansen, Merrill Cook and Christopher Cannon voted against the bill.
The bill is H.R. 1180.