On Jan. 8 in the United States, Lauren Underwood, Democratic Party congressperson of Illinois, reintroduced and passed through the Congressional House Chamber a bill that will extend healthcare subsidies provided by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for three more years. The subsidies, which were introduced during the pandemic, greatly reduce cost of medicine, premiums and life-saving care, especially for people on disability benefits who are enrolled in Medicaid.
All healthcare subsidies expired on Jan. 1, but this new bill—if ratified—will make them valid again. In the meantime, many are paying the market rate for their healthcare. For some, this means their healthcare plans cost more than their mortgage payments. Already, 1.4 million people have lost their healthcare coverage funded by the ACA. As the bill goes to the Republican-controlled Senate, estimates predict that as many as 20 million people will see their premiums double or triple.
The loss of these subsidies is poised to have a particularly stark impact on disabled Americans. Separate from the healthcare subsidies, Americans with disabilities can receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), through which people with a work history can qualify. They may also receive Supplemental Security Income, which is a cheque that averages at about $800 per month. Those on SSDI and not blind cannot earn above $1,690 per month to qualify. For those who are legally blind, the cutoff rises to $2,830. While SSDI recipients are automatically enrolled into the state-sponsored Medicare health coverage, those strict amounts have to cover food, emergencies and rent. This is a particularly tall order in cities like Atlanta, where the average rent is $1,930, or in New York City, where the average rent sits at $4,462 a month.
Without ACA coverage, disabled Americans will be forced to stretch these amounts even further to cover medical bills. Jermaine Greaves, a queer performing artist and founder of the Black Disabled Lives Matter group in New York City, is already feeling the difference. Greaves uses an electric wheelchair for mobility and has hidradenitis suppurativa, a chronic autoinflammatory disease where the body attacks hair follicles, leading to pus and boils. There is no cure, and regular treatment is required. Greaves currently receives SSDI. Insurance covered his monthly appointments with a physician, but with the subsidies expired, Greaves is being slapped with a $322 bill per session.
”There has been stress in the past, especially when I was bed-bound and severely, chronically ill,” he says. Greaves, like many others, has had to resort to crowdfunding to cover medical and living expenses. “It’s an on-and-off roller coaster,” he says. “I’m not sure what to do.”
The ACA subsidies were arguably not enough to help many to begin with. The Senate initially delayed the vote to the end of January, but it still remains stalled, and no clear date is on the horizon. Greaves and other LGBTQ2S+ disabled people are facing a daily struggle to find quality healthcare, despite their basic rights being protected under both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Civil Rights Act. Too often, this struggle is ignored by those without disabilities. In an interview with the Al Jazeera podcast The Take, disability justice educator Imani Barbarin stated, “People don’t really care if disabled people die.”