Kennedy, DeWine Introduce a New Bill to Help the Working Disabled
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 – Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Mike DeWine, Republican of Ohio, Wednesday introduced their third bill aimed at helping persons with disabilities work outside the home while still receiving federal benefits.
The Community Living Assistance Support and Services Act of 2005 would be a public insurance program, funded by a voluntary payroll tax of $30 per month. Workers who have contributed to the program for at least five years would be eligible to receive $50-$100 a day in assistance if they became disabled, even if they continued to work.
Sen. Kennedy said the money could be spent as the recipient chose, on services ranging from transportation to personal home care.
Sen. DeWine said that many disabled people were unable to purchase private health and disability insurance because of preexisting disabilities. People who become disabled frequently are “forced to bankrupt themselves” to get federal assistance, said Jeff Sadosky, a spokesman for DeWine. The bill would help disabled people work and be financially independent, he said.
Kennedy estimated that seven percent of people with disabilities are currently unemployed, and they would not benefit from the new program. “It’s not a perfect bill,” said Kennedy. Instead, he said, it was intended to “build in the concept” of helping the working disabled, which could later be expanded to include the unemployed.
The payroll tax would be “progressive,” with low-income workers receiving a tax credit for a portion of the monthly premium. Unemployed people with disabilities could be covered if they had a working spouse.
Bill Henning, director of the Independent Living Center in Boston, called the current system of aid for the disabled “counter-logical.”
“It is a very complex system,” he said, filled with “disincentives to be productive in the community.” If a disabled person goes to work, Mr. Henning said, he or she is considered not to be “house-bound,” and will lose eligibility for home assistance under Medicare.
Mr. Henning said the assumption is that if a person can work and support himself, he must not be disabled. In fact, he said, “you can be quite disabled and still work.” Mr. Henning has three employees who require assistance at home with activities like cooking and bathing. In Worcester, this kind of assistance costs an estimated $22 an hour, or $28,000 a year, according to Kennedy’s office.
Massachusetts programs provide this assistance to working people. Mr. Henning said federal assistance programs instead “guarantee you stay basically low income,” by disappearing when a recipient goes to work.
Sens. Kennedy and DeWine also sponsored the bill reauthorizing the Rehabilitation Act in 1998, which funds employment training for disabled persons, and the “Ticket to Work” Act of 1999, which allowed disabled persons to join “employment networks” for placement assistance.
Mr. Henning said the second bill helped disabled people gain better access to health insurance, but the job placement component “hasn’t worked as expected.”
Reps. John D. Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, and John M. Shimkus, Republican of Illinois, will introduce the bill in the House later this week, Sen. Kennedy said.
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