Tag: Social Security

Washington, D.C. skyline with highways and monuments.

COVID-19 as Disability Interest Convergence?

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Jasmine E. Harris

Some have suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic could be a moment of what critical race theorist Derrick Bell called “interest convergence,” where majority interests align with those of a minority group to create a critical moment for social change.

It would be easy to think that interests indeed have converged between disabled and nondisabled people in the United States. From education to employment, modifications deemed “unreasonable” became not only plausible but streamlined with broad support.

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Social Security Administration Important Information letter next to flag of USA.

Blue Booking Long COVID: Accounting for Long-Term COVID-19 Complications in Social Security Disability Benefits Evaluations

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Jacob Madden

Long COVID has left an estimated 1.6 million Americans unable to work. Those experiencing Long COVID face long-term neurological issues, heart problems, lung damage, and myriad other complications following an initial bout with COVID-19.

Though some who are incapacitated by Long COVID will eventually be able to return to work, others may never work again. Going forward, we must find a way to account and provide for these individuals. Here I suggest a potential solution in amending the Social Security Administration’s Blue Book to include Long COVID in the evaluation of disability benefits.

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Risk and Reform of Long-Term Care

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By Allison Hoffman
[Cross-posted from Health Affairs Blog]

The 50th Anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid offers an opportunity to reflect on how U.S. social policy has conceived of the problem of long-term care.

Social insurance programs aim to create greater security—typically financial security—for American families (See Note 1). Programs for long-term care, however, have had mixed results. The most recent attempt at reform, which Ted Kennedy ushered through as a part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), called the CLASS Act, was actuarially unsound and later repealed. Medicare and especially Medicaid, the two primary government programs to address long-term care needs, are criticized for failing to meet the needs of people with a disability or illness, who need long-term services or supports. These critiques are valid.

Even more troublesome, however, long-term care policy, especially in its most recent evolution toward home-based care, has intensified a second type of insecurity for Americans. Read More