Legal Protections for People with Disabilities in Managed Care
By Wendy Wilkinson, ILRU Program
In the U.S., people with disabilities, along with other individuals without disabilities, may receive less than adequate medical care in managed care arrangements. Both groups may experience problems due to the complexity and lack of flexibility in some managed care organizations but the stakes are often higher for people with disabilities.
Staff of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Managed Health Care and Disability, operated jointly by the NRH Center for Health and Disability Research in Washington, D.C., and the Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU) program of Houston, have prepared a comprehensive electronic handbook which presents legal protections for people with disabilities participating in managed care programs.
The authors note that there are a number of federal and state laws and regulations that affect the terms and conditions of the delivery of health care to individuals in managed care organizations. Federal and state anti_discrimination laws may be used to challenge practices that result in inferior treatment for individuals with disabilities; other laws may be used to challenge practices that may not constitute discrimination per se, but deny access to needed health care. To date, a number of suits have been brought against state agencies responsible for Medicaid managed care programs and managed care organizations using the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
These challenges have met with varying degrees of success. In this document, some of these cases are highlighted. What has been learned from these cases is that there is power in these laws. To obtain a copy of the handbook, go to http://www.ilru.org/mgdcare/rrtcnewsletter.html#Using the Medicaid Act.
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