De-linking Disability and Poverty

Call for the End of Asset Limits on Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Programs

For most expecting parents, the birth of a child is a welcomed event. Yet, when a child is born with a disability, the whole world changes in ways that parents of non-disabled children cannot comprehend. The birth of a child with a disability is often an incredibly expensive experience and the medical costs frequently do not end after taking the baby home from the hospital. While disabilities can be a result of poverty (lack of access to affordable pre-natal care, exposure to harmful chemicals in sub-standard housing, inadequate diet, etc...), having a disabled child commonly forces families into poverty as well.

Providing health coverage for low-income, uninsured children and parents continues to challenge the nation. This challenge becomes ever more pressing as health care costs remain on the rise and employer-sponsored insurance becomes less available and less affordable. Even those families that have private insurance find expensive treatments not covered, maximum lifetime caps that are quickly reached, or are forced to quit working to provide care for their child.

For many families with disabled children, the only choice is to seek governmentally funded health insurance- like Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP) to receive the care needed for their children. The problem with this solution is that these poverty-based programs were designed to be a safety net for the poorest citizens.

A new report published by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured: Resuming the Path to Health Coverage for Children and Parents: A 50 State Update on Eligibility Rules, Enrollment and Renewal Procedures, and Cost-Sharing Practices in Medicaid and SCHIP in 2006¹ indicates that many states are making strides towards decreasing the number of uninsured adults and children that they began in the late 1990's and was de-railed by economic downturns between 2001-2004. While this is a positive step, one aspect that the report fails to mention is the situation facing families with children with disabilities.

As Congress prepares to reauthorize SCHIP in 2007, the level of federal funding allocated will be critical to ensuring that children who are now enrolled do not lose coverage and that states can cover additional children in the future. The controversial H.R. 1591 that passed through the House on March 23, 2007 (U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans Health, and Iraq Accountability Act) calls for the Elimination of Shortfalls for the SCHIP program, allocating as much as $750,000,000 for fiscal year 2007².

The time for disability advocates to act and insist that changes be made to Medicaid and SCHIP programs is now.

Call for the Elimination of Asset Limits on Medicaid & SCHIP.

Why should families and individuals with disabilities be forced into poverty (which actually denies the government tax revenue and increases dependency on all public benefit programs) when eliminating asset tests have proven to save states money)?

In an effort to de-link Medicaid from welfare, Oklahoma officials indicated that they had been spending $3.5 million in general revenue dollars for administrative activities related to the verification of assets. They found they would spend just two-thirds that amount, or $2.5 million, in general revenue on benefits for persons who might have been denied, for net savings of $1.2 million in state general funds³.

For a state-by-state analysis of asset limits on all public assistance programs, see the National Center for Children in Poverty's State Policy Choices: Assets and Access to Public Assistance:

http://www.nccp.org/pub_afs03.html

Footnotes:
1. Resuming the Path to Health Coverage for Children and Parents: A 50 State Update on Eligibility Rules, Enrollment and Renewal Procedures, and Cost-Sharing Practices in Medicaid and SCHIP in 2006. Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. January 2007
http://www.kff.org/about/kcmu.cfm

2. H.R. 1591 "U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health, and Iraq Accountability Act- 2007"
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-1591

3. Eliminating the Medicaid Asset Test for Families: A Review of State Experiences, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. April 2001
http://www.kff.org/about/kcmu.cfm