Several years ago, I received a letter from the Social Security Administration informing me that I was no longer disabled because I had been employed full-time for a certain number of quarters. It meant nothing to the Social Security Administration that I am a quadriplegic, requiring a personal assistant to dress and toilet, a motorized wheelchair and a lift-equipped van to get around.

However, as a working, taxpaying person, I no longer qualified for Social Security disability and health care benefits. In my newly defined "nondisabled" status, I was forced to take a risk no one should have to take. I had to accept health insurance that could significantly affect the level of medical attention I would receive.

For example, as a result of the body- surfing accident that left me paralyzed, I developed an infection requiring hospitalization. The health maintenance organization I had at the time wanted to transfer me from the hospital where I was receiving extended treatment (beyond the allowed number of days) to a nursing home for "rehabilitation." I needed the expertise of the doctors and staff in the hospital, not nursing care. I was one step away from a potential downward spiral that lets a productive, taxpaying citizen languish in an institutional setting because of bottom-line health care costs.

No one should have to choose between quality health care and full- time employment.

Illinoisans with disabilities face many challenges, besides risking the loss of quality, affordable health care and / or the loss of disability benefits. But the federal government has created new opportunities with the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, signed by President Bill Clinton in December. And at the state level, proponents are working toward a Medicaid buy-in program that would grant people with disabilities the option to buy health insurance through Medicaid. Both programs will allow people with disabilities to keep their Social Security disability benefits based on a sliding scale that will not put an immediate burden on employers' health care plans.

Findings in the November 1998 First Report of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of People with Disabilities noted that "among people with disabilities ages 16 to 64 who are not employed, seven out of 10 said they would prefer to be working."

Peter Schultz is one of those people. An employee of the Regional Access and Mobilization Project (RAMP), a center for independent living in Rockford, Schultz testified at a public hearing conducted by the Statewide Independent Living Council on work disincentives. He had worked at a high-paying job as a sales and marketing manager after the 1984 car accident that left him a paraplegic. But he had to leave the state because of family crises. He was forced to take Social Security disability, which was based on his last job. Upon moving back to Illinois, he took a job that pays significantly less than his previous position. Should he have to rely on Social Security disability benefits again, he could lose ground if those benefits are based on his current salary. He says he needs to work for his own mental health, but choosing to work could mean that he won't have adequate health care coverage in the future.

Currently in Illinois, the unemployment rate among working-age persons with disabilities is 67.8 percent, or more than 488, 000 people, according to the Illinois Bureau of the Budget and the Department of Human Services. If the presidential task force figure of seven out of 10 is correct, more than 342, 000 working-age Illinoisans with disabilities want to work.

The Medicaid buy-in legislation that state Sen. Christine Radogno, a LaGrange Republican, will sponsor is a step forward. Under the federal Balanced Budget Act and the new work incentive law, states have the option to change the eligibility for Medicaid coverage.

Illinois can create a Medicaid buy-in program by:
-raising the income limits;
-disregarding unearned income;
-disregarding spousal resources;
-raising the limits on assets;
-exempting certain resources; and charging premiums for Medicaid coverage for people with disabilities who are earning up to and beyond 250 percent of the poverty level.

Illinois can also choose to cover persons with disabilities whose medical condition has improved, but who continue to have a severe medically determinable impairment.

With Illinois'jobless rate at 30-year lows, employers are looking for competent, loyal workers. It is time to take a hard look at connecting unemployed people with disabilities with employers in all areas of the state.

Employers must recognize the economic value of employing Illinoisans with disabilities. Last October, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced creation of a program led by 21 major North American companies designed to boost corporate hiring of people with disabilities. According to the Reuters news agency, Gates said, "this underutilized group could offer a rich supply of workers to ease labor shortages in many industries."

Illinois must follow Microsoft's lead and take the necessary steps to reduce the unemployment level of people with disabilities. Give them the opportunity to pay taxes and participate as equal members of our society. 

John M. Eckert is executive director of the Statewide Independent Living Council of Illinois.

Illinois Issues February 2000 / 25