EQUITY e-newsletter: March 2004

Public Disability Benefits & Asset Building

Moving in the Right Direction: Recent Changes in Benefit Programs Assist Individuals with Disabilities in Building Assets

Eileen Sweeney, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, provides a timely article focusing on recent developments in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) that affect assets and provides an update on rules in other federal programs.

Looking Toward the Future of Asset Building Policy: Recommended Changes in SSI

Eileen Sweeney has also provided recommendations for policy changes in SSI that can further reduce barriers for people with disabilities's ability to build assets.

Creating Options for the Future: Individual Development Accounts

Daniel Fortuno, Options: A Benefits Training Foundation and Megan O'Neil, World Institute on Disability's Access to Assets Program; highlight key concerns in the intersection between public benefits and Individual Development Accounts.

If At First You Don't Succeed…: Kathleen Flannigan

Kathleen Flannigan, an artist with Cerebral Palsy and Osteoarthritis, proves that with the right combination of public benefits, financial discipline, and an opportunity to build assets, anyone at any age and of any ability can live their dreams.

People with Disabilities can work and keep Medicaid

In the past, one of the major obstacles to employment for a person with a disability is the fear of losing health insurance. Medicaid is public health insurance for low-income individuals and people with disabilities.

EQUITY Responds: Answers to common questions received from either the Asset Building Community or the Disability Community

I work for an asset building program and I have a few clients with disabilities on SSDI that would like to get into our Individual Development Account (IDA) program, but I've been reluctant to recommend them for fear that they could loose their benefits. I understand IDAs but I need help understanding all the benefits rules. Where do I go for reliable information?