The sponsors of the House Republican debt limit bill, the Limit, Save, Grow Act, say its goal is to encourage low-income people to work. But it may have exactly the opposite effect, especially for people with disabilities. And, at the same time, it may throw family caregivers into an impossible situation—having to choose between caring for their loved ones or losing their own Medicaid benefits.
The law effectively would drop from the Medicaid roles people who work less than 80 hours a month. Some estimate more than 11 million people with disabilities are enrolled in Medicaid, about one in seven of those under age 65. Others say it is closer to one-third. Many do work but often find it difficult to hold down full-time jobs.
More than half report serious cognitive difficulties, nearly half have trouble with mobility, and 40 percent struggle with tasks such as visiting a doctor’s office. Still, many could, and want to, work.
A Hobson’s Choice
The bill would force them to make a Hobson’s choice. To keep their Medicaid benefits, they could try to find at least half-time work or get a physician to certify that are, in the language of the bill, “physically or mentally unfit for employment.”
Imagine that you are living with Down syndrome, mental illness, or Multiple Sclerosis. You work. But perhaps because transportation to a job is so difficult or just because it is so hard to get hired at all, you work less than half-time.
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