The Three E's: Enrollment, Employment, and Earnings in the Medicaid Buy-In Program, 2006

The Medicaid Buy-In program is part of a broader federal effort to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities by allowing states to expand Medicaid coverage to workers with disabilities whose income and assets would ordinarily make them ineligible for Medicaid. This report presents a national profile of the enrollment, employment, and earnings of Buy-In participants in 2006 and investigates the association between participant characteristics, state program features, and employment outcomes. The report notes that the Buy-In program continues to be a popular coverage option for states and enrollment is growing nationwide from 29,398 to 97,491 participants between 2001 and 2006. About 69 percent of participants nationwide were employed with average annual earnings of $8,237 in 2006.