This policy brief describes how State VR agencies are using and can use benefits planning services, as a VR agency-funded service, to help SSDI and SSI beneficiaries address concerns and fears about the potential loss of cash benefits and healthcare benefits (i.e., Medicaid and/or Medicare) as they move into jobs paying substantial wages. The…

This research aims to describe the characteristics of 1915(c) Home- and Community-Based Services waivers for children with autism spectrum disorder across states and over time. While increasingly popular, little is known about these Medicaid waivers. Understanding the characteristics of these programs is important to clinicians and policymakers in…

Amounts billed for teaching physician services and paid by Medicare carriers were reviewed by the General Accounting Office (GAO) to determine whether such payments had been made only where the physicians had satisfied the requirements of the Social Security Act. Attention was focused on the requirement that teaching physicians must provide a…

The Medicare Catastrophic Loss Prevention Act of 1987, a bill which would protect Medicare beneficiaries from catastrophic expenses associated with covered Medicare services is reported on in this document from the Senate Committee on Finance. The report opens with the Committee's recommendations that the bill pass as amended. The background and…

There is disagreement about who is to be the primary payer when dual coverage exists under Medicare and a employer-sponsored group health plan for federal, state, and local government employees after the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986. Medicare administrators of the Health Care Financing Administration interpret the Act as applying to…

Hearings on the status of medical education funded under the Medicare program are presented, with attention to how the program reimburses hospitals for medical education costs. The Social Security Act Amendments of 1983 provided for a radical reform in hospital payment. By the end of a 3-year phase-in period, the program was designed to set…

The relationship between the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Program and vocational rehabilitation (VR) programs was reviewed. Focus was on the extent to which VR services are successful in returning SSDI beneficiaries to productive employment. The review was carried out in 10 states with widely varying practices in referring SSDI…