Quantifying Wraparound Health Insurance Needs among Employed People with Disabilities

A presentation about insurance coverage for health care services and supports for people with disabilities who work. “Wrap-around” coverage (or other policy) options may be a viable solution and support employment among people with disabilities. Presentation for the 2015 Academy Health Disability Research Interest Group

Kathy Muhr, Aniko Laszlo and Alexis Henry on Using Concept Mapping to Evaluate Employment Collaboratives for People with Disabilities

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness

Accounting for Geographic Variation in Social Security Disability Program Participation

There is wide geographic variation in Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplementary Security Income participation across the United States. Some policymakers and members of the public may assume that interregional administrative inconsistencies are a major reason for the geographic variation. To test this assumption, and to reveal other potential explanations for the variation, we decompose the total variation into components by examining regional differences in disability prevalence and in program participation among persons with disabilities as well as the correlation between those two factors. We further decompose the variation in participation among persons with disabilities into socioeconomic components. Our findings strongly suggest that geographic variation in program participation is mainly an indication of geographic variation in disability prevalence and socioeconomic characteristics and that inconsistency in program administration is not a major reason for the variation

Economic Wellbeing and Life Satisfaction Among Working and Non-Working Adults with Disabilities

Working-age adults with disabilities in the US are more than twice as likely to live in poverty as those without disabilities; poverty rates are greater among non-working people with disabilities compared to those who work. Poverty-associated stress compounds the challenges faced daily by people living with disability. We examined satisfaction with finances, worries about meeting monthly expenses, and overall life satisfaction among working and non-working adults with disabilities using a 2010 Massachusetts Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS) follow-up survey of working-age adults with disabilities (n=882). The MA BRFSS Disability and Employment Follow-Up Survey gathered information on work participation, work-related barriers and multiple dimensions of economic wellbeing among people with disabilities. Thirty-seven percent of survey respondents with disabilities reported currently working. Logistic regression analyses showed that, controlling for demographic variables (age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status and education), health status, need for personal or routine care, and insurance status, working respondents were significantly more likely to report satisfaction with finances (OR=1.99, 95% CI=1.07-3.72) and significantly less likely to report being worried about meeting expenses (OR=0.37, 95% CI=0.19-0.68) than non-working respondents. Having private vs. public insurance was also significantly associated with satisfaction with finances; poorer health and the need for personal or routine care were significantly associated with worrying about meeting expenses. Employment was not significantly related to overall life satisfaction. Employment contributes to enhanced economic well-being and decreased financial worries among people with disabilities. Implications of finding for services for people with disabilities will be discussed. Presented at the American Public Health Association (APHA) 141st Annual Meeting and Exposition

Policy Opportunities for Promoting Employment for People with Psychiatric Disabilities

Outlines policy opportunities that can be leveraged to expand opportunities for people with psychiatric disabilities to successfully obtain and maintain employment, including increased access to career development, supported employment, and critical health services. The authors’ recommendations include: Develop guidance and incentives for Medicaid coverage of supported employment. Maximize opportunities for access to healthcare made possible by the Affordable Care Act. Continue service innovations focused on educational and career development. Include people with psychiatric disabilities in federal and state employment initiatives. The authors say there is compelling evidence that people with psychiatric disabilities want to work, but statistics show their employment rate is low. When people are provided with appropriate supports and services, employment is attainable and leads to social inclusion, better health, reductions in public spending, and economic advancement

Programs for Families with Parental Mental Illness: Results of a US National Survey

Summary: Survey of programs in the U.S. for parents with mental illness

How Do Employment Outcomes of Medicaid Buy-In Participants Vary Based on Prior Medicaid Coverage? An Example from Massachusetts

Summary: The Medicaid Buy-In program is a key component of the federal effort to make it easier for people with disabilities to work without losing health benefits. Authorized by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (“BBA”) and the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (“Ticket Act”), the Buy-In program allows states to expand Medicaid coverage to workers with disabilities whose income and assets would ordinarily make them ineligible for Medicaid. To be eligible for the program, an individual must have a disability (as defined by the Social Security Administration) and earned income, and must meet other financial eligibility requirements established by states. States have some flexibility to customize their Buy-In programs to their specific needs, resources, and objectives. As of July 1, 2008, 33 states with a Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG) reported covering 82,488 individuals in the Medicaid Buy-In program. The CommonHealth Working (CHW) program in Massachusetts is the oldest Buy-In program in the nation. It began in 1988 as a state-funded program and was folded into the state’s 1115 Medicaid research and demonstration project in 1996. This issue brief, the eighth in a series on workers with disabilities, compares the employment outcomes of newly enrolled CHW participants based on whether or not they were previously enrolled in MassHealth, Massachusetts’s Medicaid program, under another eligibility category. For those who had been enrolled in MassHealth, employment outcomes before and after CHW enrollment are contrasted

PHEMTO: the polarimetric high energy modular telescope observatory

Based upon dual focusing techniques, the Polarimetric High-Energy Modular Telescope Observatory (PHEMTO) is designed to have performance several orders of magnitude better than the present hard X-ray instruments, in the 1–600 keV energy range. This, together with its angular resolution of around one arcsecond, and its sensitive polarimetry measurement capability, will give PHEMTO the improvements in scientific performance needed for a mission in the 2050 era in order to study AGN, galactic black holes, neutrons stars, and supernovae. In addition, its high performance will enable the study of the non-thermal processes in galaxy clusters with an unprecedented accuracy.Open access funding provided by Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica within the CRUI-CARE Agreement