Medicaid for Employed People With Disabilities

The Medicaid for Employed People with Disabilities (MEPD) program allows individuals with disabilities to continue receiving Medicaid while they go back to work. Enrollees who take advantage of MEPD are allowed to make up to 250% of the federal poverty level and may retain some assets. Nationally and locally, comparisons of costs for people with disabilities who work and those who do not work have indicated that working people have lower health care costs. These preliminary findings suggest that working increases productivity while decreasing costs.

This study is designed to determine whether participation in the MEPD reduces health care costs. It will deepen previous work completed by the Iowa Department of Human Services focusing not just on the costs of care but the utilization of care and the types of care utilization such as preventive, hospital and emergency care. As an interdisciplinary effort this study incorporates the areas of health services research, law, and public finance.