How Covid Relief Will Help Disabled People, And What Was Left Out

How Covid Relief Will Help Disabled People

The American Rescue Plan passed its final vote in the House yesterday, on a 220-211 vote along strict party lines. President Biden signed it this afternoon. The plan’s best-known feature, a third round of economic stimulus checks to individuals and families, will start going out almost immediately. The bill seems to have strong support, not just among Democrats and Independents, but from a substantial percentage of Republican voters as well.

This is a major political victory for the new Biden Administration. And as many economists say, (though not all of them), the bill looks to be an essential toolbox for Covid-19 pandemic relief and economic recovery. This massive $1.9 trillion package is also a significant win for disabled people in the U.S., though it won’t deliver all that the disability community had hoped for.

Here is an overview of the main components of this third round of Covid relief, what is in it for people with disabilities, and what was set aside for another day.

Stimulus Checks

The most immediately impactful piece for most Americans is the third round of economic stimulus checks – $1,400 for individuals with incomes up to $75,000, and $2,800 for couples earning up to $150,000. There will also be an additional $1,400 for each dependent claimed on tax returns.

In the two previous stimulus bills, only dependents under age 17 qualified for payments. This bill adds adult dependents, including adult children with disabilities and older parents with age-related disabilities who are claimed on someone else’s income tax returns. So a significant number of disabled people who didn’t qualify for previous stimulus checks will get this one. This provision will help those disabled individuals, and the families they live with.

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Stimulus checks are not solely targeted to disabled people. But extra money is always a help, especially for people with disabilities, and particularly when it doesn’t affect eligibility for key disability-related benefits like Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare.

The quick, one-time influx of cash can help people with disabilities pay for expenses that come with our disabilities, and any costs that we have struggled to meet during the financial disruptions of the pandemic. For example:

• Buying higher quality protective masks and cleaning supplies. These are still important as too many of us are still waiting to be eligible for vaccines. We need them for ourselves of course, but many of us who use home care also need them for our everyday direct care workers.

• Overdue repair or replacement of adaptive equipment, like wheelchairs, walkers, hearing aids, and the dozens of apps and tools disabled people increasingly rely on that are based on home PCs and mobile devices.

• Basic groceries we may have skimped on or gone without, that we can now buy in bulk, like toilet paper and paper towels, small but important luxuries like coffee and favorite snacks, and prepared foods with a long shelf life.

Plus, many of us can usefully use stimulus funds to pay down debt, which can improve our overall financial stability and open up more purchasing power we can use in future emergencies.

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