§1320b–22 Grants to Develop and Establish State Infrastructures to Support Working Individuals with Disabilities

Summary

The Secretary of Health and Human Services must give grants to states to help build, run, and tell people about state systems that support working individuals with disabilities. States must apply to get a grant. "State" means the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Grants pay for setting up the infrastructure and for outreach. To get a grant, a state must show it makes personal assistance services available under its Medicaid state plan as needed to help people with disabilities keep working, including certain optional Medicaid groups if the state chose to cover them. "Employed" means either earning at least the federal minimum wage and working at least 40 hours a month, or meeting other work standards approved by the Secretary. "Personal assistance services" means help from one or more people with daily tasks on and off the job to increase independence. The Secretary will use a method that rewards states that help beneficiaries work and that does not give more proportional money to states that did not adopt the optional Medicaid coverage. No state grant can be less than $500,000 in a year unless total funds are too small, in which case payments are cut pro rata. For states that chose the optional Medicaid coverage, a grant cannot exceed 10% of that state’s total spending (including the federal share) for medical assistance for those individuals, as estimated by the state and approved by the Secretary; the Secretary sets a consistent limit for other states. Grant funds remain available until spent, and unawarded funds can be used in later years. Each grantee must file an annual report that shows the percentage increase in Title II and Title XVI disability beneficiaries who return to work. The law authorizes these amounts: FY2001 $20,000,000; FY2002 $25,000,000; FY2003 $30,000,000; FY2004 $35,000,000; FY2005 $40,000,000; and for FY2006 through FY2011 the prior year’s amount increased by the percentage change (if any) in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (United States city average). These sums are treated as budget authority in advance of annual appropriations. By October 1, 2010, the Secretary, in consultation with the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel, must tell the House Committee on Commerce and the Senate Committee on Finance whether the program should continue after FY2011.