Clinton signs disability bill despite organ rule delay
NEW YORK, Dec 17, 1999 (Reuters Health) -- Despite the inclusion of an
amendment delaying new rules for the allocation of human organs,
President Clinton on Friday signed into law a measure that will enable
people with disabilities to hold onto their Medicare benefits longer and
create a Medicaid buy-in for disabled workers.
The Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, a top legislative priority
of the Clinton Administration, carries a 90-day moratorium on the
Department of Health and Human Services final rule on organ allocation.
Clinton aides last month indicated that the President could veto the
bill if the organ language were to remain. The rules call for a new
allocation system based on medical need and less on geography.
The latest delay was welcomed by the United Network for Organ Sharing
(UNOS), which runs the nation's transplant network under contract with
HHS.
The law signed on Friday, first introduced by Senator Jim Jeffords
(R-VT), was widely touted as a bridge for the disabled whose fear of
losing their federal healthcare benefits has kept them out of the
workplace.
``It is absolutely critical,'' Jo Holzer, executive director of The
Council for Disability Rights, a Chicago-based grassroots organization,
told Reuters Health. It is the health insurance issue, she said, that
has dissuaded many disabled people from taking jobs.
``I think it will mean that a lot more people will be willing to take a
chance on a job,'' she said. The measure accomplishes that, she
explained, enabling people to retain federal health coverage until their
private, employer-sponsored benefits kick in.
In a statement issued Friday, National Council on Disability chairperson
Marca Bristo said, ``This law is a step in the right direction. It
affirms the basic principle stated in the Americans with Disabilities
Act: that all Americans should have the same opportunities to be
productive citizens.''
The Council, an independent federal advisory agency, noted that it is
now up to states to take advantage of what the law offers.
At Friday's signing ceremony, Clinton said that, under the new law, no
one should worry about losing Medicare or Medicaid coverage.
``Today we say with a simple but clear voice, no one should have to
choose between taking a job and having healthcare,'' he said.
The measure will make a real difference, he said, for people facing the
early onset of diseases like AIDS, muscular dystrophy, PARKINSON'S or
diabetes. These are the people who may not yet qualify for disability
coverage under Medicare but, because of their pre-existing conditions,
are ``uninsurable.''
The law addresses that issue by providing $250 million to states for
demonstrations programs that will test the feasibility of providing
Medicaid coverage to those disabled individuals.
Copyright © 1996-1999 Reuters Limited.
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Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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