What providers and Medicaid policymakers need to know about barriers to employment for people with disabilities

Abstract

Medicaid Buy-Ins provide a new and exciting opportunity for people with disabilities to engage in meaningful employment while maintaining Medicaid coverage. Through interviews with participants in the Kansas Medicaid Buy-In, we examined perceived external influences on the decision to acquire or increase employment by people with disabilities. Two major external barriers were identified. First, physicians, therapists and case workers had frequently discouraged participants from getting jobs or increasing employment levels. Difficulty accessing adequate and consistent medical care and/or medications through Medicaid was also an issue in preventing participants from being able to acquire or increase employment.