With little or no income, disability applicants are seeking Social Security early retirement benefits even though it could cost them tens of thousands of dollars in future income, lawyers say.
Category: Disabilities
Some Private Companies Charge Hefty Fees to Help Veterans With Disability Claims
Unaccredited companies promise to help veterans file for disability benefits. But unlike the thousands of service representatives who have been vetted and approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide aid, these “medical consultants” or “coaches” operate with no restrictions on how much they can charge.
Readers and Tweeters Defend the Rights of Adults With Disabilities
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Disability Rights Groups Sue to Overturn California’s Physician-Assisted Death Law
Disability rights advocates and two individuals with disabilities sued Tuesday to overturn the state’s physician-assisted death law, arguing it is unconstitutional, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, and makes it too easy for people with terminal diseases whose deaths aren’t imminent to kill themselves with a doctor’s help.
People with Down Syndrome Are Living Longer, but the Health System Still Treats Many as Kids
The median life expectancy for a U.S. baby born with Down syndrome jumped from about four years in 1950 to 58 years in the 2010s. That’s largely because they no longer can be denied lifesaving care, including surgeries for heart defects. But now, aging adults with Down syndrome face a health system unprepared to care for them.
For Young People on Medicare, a Hysterectomy Sometimes Is More Affordable Than Birth Control
While Medicare was designed as health insurance for those 65 and older, it also covers people with disabilities who are young enough to still get pregnant. Yet they often struggle to get their birth control covered and end up with large medical bills — or instead opt for hysterectomies or tubal ligations, which Medicare sometimes will cover.
The Disability Tax: Medical Bills Remain Inaccessible for Many Blind Americans
Health insurers and health care systems across the country are violating disability rights laws by sending medical bills that blind and visually impaired people cannot read, a KHN investigation has found. By hindering the ability of blind Americans to know what they owe, some bills get sent to debt collections.
‘Impending Intergenerational Crisis’: Americans With Disabilities Lack Long-Term Care Plans
Many Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities do not have long-term plans for when family members can no longer care for them. Families, researchers, and advocates worry that has set the stage for a crisis in which people with disabilities could end up living in institutional settings.
People With Long Covid Face Barriers to Government Disability Benefits
Some people with long covid have fallen through the cracks of the government’s disability system, which was time-consuming and difficult to navigate even before the pandemic.
People With Long Covid Face Barriers to Government Disability Benefits
Some people with long covid have fallen through the cracks of the government’s disability system, which was time-consuming and difficult to navigate even before the pandemic.
