print this pageDisabled to Retain Benefits
By Louise D. Palmer
The Boston Globe
WASHINGTON - Hoping to encourage millions of disabled Americans to join the work force, the Senate reached agreement Tuesday on a bill that will allow them to keep their federal health benefits if they find a job.
The Senate is expected to vote overwhelmingly today for what supporters call a "bill of independence," co-authored by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and James M. Jeffords, R-Vermont. It would allow states to extend Medicaid benefits to any of the 7.5 million Americans who are qualified as disabled and become employed.
The bill addresses what some say is a Catch-22 in current law, which forbids people who work from receiving federal disability benefits, including health insurance. The measure is estimated to cost $838 million over five years, but that is expected to be offset somewhat by a $68 million savings, as more disabled people pay taxes and fewer rely on Social Security Insurance, a cash benefit many disabled now receive.
At a news conference, President Clinton hailed the agreement as a step toward equality for the 54 million people who live with mental or physical impairments, "This is a profoundly important piece of legislation," Clinton said. A version of the bill has been approved by a House committee but no vote has been scheduled by the full House.
As well as bringing opportunity and independence to the working disabled, Clinton said the measure represents an economic victory because more Americans would become taxpayers, contribute to Social Security, and broaden the consumer market.
Mounting pressure from Democrats and Republicans alike, as well as effective lobbying by disability groups, prevailed over opposition, to the bill by some conservative Republican members, including Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi and Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, who had concerns about how to pay for the bill.
This article appeared in the June 16, 1999 edition of the San Bernardino County Sun.