PCPID Quarterly Meeting: September 26–27, 2011

Income Support

Core values

• In this time of difficult economic decisions, supports to people with intellectual disabilities must be maintained as a critical component of our humane social safety net.

Opportunities

1. Simplify the system
   • Simplify the system and access points especially for different communities
   • Develop guidelines/rules to eliminate interpretation of them at the local SS office
   • Simplify work incentives wise
   • Uncomplicated system to make it easier to navigate services and provide better supports to individuals and families trying to access benefits
   • Modify to increase work incentives, continue health eligibility, programs and simplify
   • The system should be simplified so people with ID can understand how the system works
   • All processes for receiving benefits need to be simplified
   • Simplify processes including eliminating 2–year wait for Medicare
   • Recommendation within SSI and DI programs simply work incentive programs so that people with ID can clearly understand
   • Keep it simple
2. Increase allowable assets and earnings
   • Increase allowable assets and earnings for SS and SSI
   • People with ID should receive benefits when they have a job, regardless of the number of hours they work
   • Remove mitigate negative impact of eligibility for other benefits- e.g. national service stipend
   • Eliminate regulations which require people to impoverish themselves and are disincentives to savings
   • Allow ID individual to work with no limitations to income
   • Change Social Security system to remove disincentives to work be people with IDD (financial and Medicaid, Medicare)
3. Lift the $2000 cap
   • Lift the $2000 cap on SSI and maximum allowed monthly earnings
   • Individuals with ID shouldn’t have to be limited to have 2K to keep eligibility
   • Lift the $2000 cap on SSI
   • Substantially raise income and $2000 assets for cap on SSI
   • Remove cap of $2000 assets limits for SSI
4. Breakdown/show how income support comes back to the community, think like an economist
5. Preserve income benefits
   • Preserve income benefits and index for inflation
   • Both the income maintenance and access to Medicaid compensates of SSI are essential for the children and adults with IDD to live as contributing members of the families and communities
6. Simplify the work incentive provisions
   • Simplify the work incentive provisions within both SSI and DI programs so that individuals with ID understand them and can attempt work knowing how it will affect their benefits
   • Work incentives earning salaries allow ongoing presumptive re-eligibility for SSDI
   • Simplify people moving into and out of system as circumstances change
   • Eliminate 2 year wait for Medicare
7. The limits placed on receiving benefits need to reflect the costs of living
8. Shorten the waiting list for benefits
   • Shorten the waiting list for benefits
   • Reduce the time limits for waiting for eligibility for services
   • Eliminate waiting periods for SSDI and Medicare
   • 2-year wait for Medicare for SSDI beneficiaries
   • Link of Medicaid to non-employment status
9. Eliminate marriage penalties
   • Eliminate marriage penalties
   • People with ID should not lose their government benefits when they marry
10. Engage the SSA inspector general to understand unintended results from the support we are providing
11. Promote work, extend benefits and allow PWD to transition into job and economic security
12. Improve Medicaid buy-in-to enhance incentive to work
13. PASS
    • Encourage use of SSI program to achieve self-support (PASS)
    • Recommendation for people w/ID to achieve self support encourage the use of SSI programs
14. SSA reform needs to be considered separately from deficit reduction
    • For PWIDD SSI and SSDI are essential supports that make it possible for PWIDD to live as part of their families and communities
    • SS reform needs to be considered separately from deficit reduction
15. Provide assistance to youth with ID receiving SSI, make successful transition to employment as an adult

Risks

1. Families will fall over into deeper poverty
   • Entire families will fall over into deeper poverty
   • Budget cuts for income support will definitely end to limited resources for supporting self and family relative to basic needs (food, clothing, shelter)
   • Extra strain on families
   • Family stress and lack of productivity and poverty
   • Decrease opportunities, increase hardships (food, shelter), increase living at home, decrease independence
   • Greater hardships on families
   • Income, increase stress on families
   • More cost to families
   • Lack of finical support would lead to increased dependence on families (lack of housing =homelessness)
   • Increase in poverty rate, homelessness and poor health (physical and mental) which increases the burden on families and local communities
   • Financial responsibility of families (who are aging)
   • Lack of basic needs, food, transportation, housing options, lack of asct. Technology
   • Diminished life/equality for families
   • Family members of people with ID may have to stop working to take care of the person in the family with ID
   • Families impacted
   • Loss of income will return people to their family’s home
2. Will add to the homeless population
   • No income leads to homelessness
   • People with ID won't be able to live in the community
   • Inability to function independently, live on their own, pay rent, will become homeless
   • Will add to the homeless population
   • Homelessness, families into poverty and dependence on other public programs
   • Poverty and homelessness
   • Total loss of housing, employment, homelessness
   • SSI program provides important support to low-income individuals. Erosion in protections will shift burden to other programs
   • Increase in homelessness and hunger
3. Isolation and institutionalization
   • Increased demand for institutionalization
   • Isolation and institutionalization
   • Isolation and lack of community and not productive members of society
   • Limited access to activities all the rest of us enjoy
   • Cannot afford to feed themselves
   • Early death
   • DI trust funds will become insolvent within next decade—changes to program that increases costs will be difficult
   • Businesses will lose customers
   • The collateral impact will be suffering by small businesses in our communities where
   • PIDS live
   • Less active consumers in the economy