Mr. JEFFORDS.

Mr. President, it is with great pleasure that I rise today, with my friend and colleague, Senator Edward Kennedy, to introduce the Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1998.

This bill has developed over many months with the help of the disability community, the Social Security Administration, the Health Care Financing Administration and other Congressional offices to help the insurmountable health barriers to individuals who wish to work, but must remain dependent on the Social Security Disability system to continue to access needed health benefits provided by the Federal and State governments.

Mr. President, the current system has had very limited success. The benefits offered are too expensive, time limited, and offer too few health care services for the many persons with disabilities who wish to work. Currently, less than 5 percent of beneficiaries have taken advantage of this so called work incentive.

Mr. President, I have worked for more than a year with Senator Kennedy to assess why so few SSI and SSDI beneficiaries return to work. We have found that the primary barrier is a lack of available health care coverage--this needed coverage is either unavailable or unaffordable in the private sector for those with disabilities.

Specific barriers facing individuals with disabilities who want to work include an inability to obtain affordable health insurance through Medicare. After a period of time on the current SSDI work incentives program, the individual must pay full fare--more than $370 a month. We researched how many individuals take advantage of this and would you believe, Mr. President, that out of more than 3.5 million beneficiaries, only 114 have chosen to buy in to Medicare. People with disabilities simply cannot afford the coverage over more than a short period of time.

Another barrier is that the critical services people with disabilities need are unavailable. Personal assistance services and drugs are available only through a state's Medicaid plan. SSDI beneficiaries do not have access to Medicaid unless they impoverish themselves to get it. When we looked into this we found that SSDI people who need Medicaid covered services, those so-called `dual eligibles,' are the fastest growing entitlement population in the government. For those SSI beneficiaries who have access to Medicaid, personal assistance services are covered in only half the states.

Mr. President, our Work Incentive Improvement Act will provide incentives for persons with disabilities to return to work and still be able to access health insurance. It will ensure that an attempt to work, or an inability to remain working, does not penalize participants for future SSDI and SSI eligibility.

Under our legislation, those SSDI applicants who want to return to work could access Medicare Part A for free. If their incomes rise above 250 percent of poverty they would buy-in based on 10 percent of earned income above 250 percent. Part B premium contributions would remain the same. They would also be able to access a new State Work Options Program that provides personal assistance services and prescription drugs to those states that chose to set one up.

Long term disabled SSDI beneficiaries who have been receiving cash benefits for more than 24 months would be eligible for Medicare A&B for the same rates as described above, the State Work Options Program, and an expanded Impairment Related Work Expense to include the cost of automobiles in areas where accessible transportation is unavailable. Such an incentive would do much to keep an individuals income below SGA, and be more likely to keep their cash benefits.

Persons with disabilities who are working under SSI's work incentive program would have access to the State Work Options Programs if they needed personal assistance services to begin working. The legislation also strengthens current State Medicaid Waiver projects that provide health services and supports to persons with disabilities who want to work.

The current benefits offered are too expensive, time limited, and offer too few health care services for the many persons with disabilities who wish to work.