Early Implementation of Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plans: Providing an Interim Safety Net for the Uninsurable

Outlines enrollment trends and enrollee traits in a temporary program designed to provide affordable coverage to the uninsured with preexisting conditions, changes to structures and premiums, and estimated out-of-pocket costs by utilization and plan type

Working Healthy & Medicare Part D: Findings From Participant Surveys

In February and March 2006, KU researchers developed and administered a telephone survey to assess the actual experiences of Working Healthy enrollees with Part D transition. The survey addressed information and access issues and gave participants the opportunity to share positive and negative feedback about Part D. A random sample of 600 dually-eligible Working Healthy participants was contacted and 328 persons completed the survey, for a response rate of 55%. Demographically, the survey respondents were similar to he larger Working Healthy population. An analysis of claims data for these individuals showed that mental illnesses were the predominant disability type experienced by the grou

Working Healthy: Getting the Job Done

When the Ticket to Work/Work Incentives Improvement Act (TW-WIIA) was passed in 1999, Congress acknowledges that the potential loss of Medicaid and/or Medicare coverage for people with disabilities who attained or increased employment was a serious disincentive to their meaningful participation in work. Medicaid Buy-In programs were offered as an option to states to extend Medicaid coverage to people with disabilities who wanted to work. Evaluation activities of the Kansas Medicaid Buy-In, Working Healthy, have demonstrated that Medicaid remains a crucial element in the ability of Kansans with disabilities to wor

Dually-Eligible Working-Age Adults with Disabilities: Issues and Challenges as Health Reform is Implemented

This special section on working-age adults with disabilities dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid is based on two panel presentations at the June 2012 meeting of the AcademyHealth Disability Research Interest Group. The papers included here consider the issues of health care access and outcomes as well as employment for this group of approximately four million individuals, many with complex health care needs and high costs.iThe Commonwealth Fund, AcademyHealth Disability Research Interest Group (DRIG

Narrowing the Breach: Can Disability Culture and Full Educational Inclusion Be Reconciled?

Because of the long history of exclusion of people with disabilities, total inclusion in the educational environment has many outspoken proponents. People and organizations favoring inclusion, however, are overlooking the value of the disability culture that is fostered when children with disabilities have the opportunity to associate with and learn alongside other individuals who share similar identities and life experiences.The history of the disability rights movement clearly illustrates that major changes do not occur unless people with disabilities band together to address shared injustices (e.g., Shapiro, 1993). The phenomenon of a disability culture has been convincingly demonstrated by many researchers and writers, and its importance to the development and self-esteem of students with disabilities is discussed. Although the current special education system has many negative aspects, changes to the existing system rather than a movement to full inclusion will be more effective in supporting disability culture and, ultimately, the needs of children with disabilities

Policy Issues for Working Healthy and Other States' Medicaid Buy-Ins: The Good, the Bad, and What Remains to be Seen

Medicaid Buy-In programs are a work incentive initiative under both the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and the Ticket to Work/Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999. They allow people with disabilities to work and get or maintain Medicaid coverage. The Kansas Buy-In, Working Healthy, has been very successful to date, with many positive stories from enrollees. The strengths of Working Healthy and Buy-Ins nationally, however, are offset by various policy issues that limit the degree to which Buy-In participants can gain true independence through work