Iowans with disabilities are calling on Iowa lawmakers again to change income restrictions on Medicaid benefits that they say make it hard for them to work.
Currently, employed people with disabilities on Medicaid cannot have resources worth more than $12,000 or make more than 250% of the federal poverty level — that’s just under $40,000 a year for a household of one.
Daniel Van Sant, director of disability policy at the Harkin Institute at Drake University, said there are around 200,000 working-age Iowans with disabilities, but only about a third are employed full time.
“The issues that we're talking about today are not challenges with motivation for being in the workplace or workplace participation rates, but policy decisions that have accidentally prevented people with disabilities from fully engaging in work,” he said.
Advocates say private health insurance isn’t an alternative, as it doesn’t cover all the support services disabled Iowans need.