Redistribution and benefits create a more equal society for people with disabilities–UBI, jobs guarantee, and universal healthcare

A federal jobs guarantee that includes people with disabilities, while also fighting for equitable compensation, will better the economic reality for those living in poverty. A jobs guarantee will not force people with disabilities to work, but simply guarantee that any person who wants to work will be able to do so while also receiving benefits.

Fair compensation must also be part of that guarantee. Raising the federal minimum wage to at least $15 an hour and eliminating subminimum wages for 321,000 workers with disabilities would similarly help combat the high rates of poverty among people with disabilities.

The disability community must also be included into a comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. health system. A single-payer health model is the only forward to curtail rising costs, improving health outcomes, expanding patient choice and increasing coverage to all. Lawmakers must be mindful of including people with disabilities in a single-payer program and ensure that all long-term care and disability-related health expenses are covered in full. A universal health benefit through a single-payer model will provide increased affordability, universal access and improved outcomes, while creating a health system that views disability as part of the human experience rather than a charitable burden subjected to means testing.

A Universal Basic Income (UBI) with increased funding for people with disabilities who are unable to work, united with a single-payer health system and a federal jobs guarantee, will ease the transition out of poverty. A UBI would provide much needed extra income for people with disabilities living on the margins and aid in reducing poverty in the U.S.

A new universal benefits system can be achieved. When investments in health care, federal jobs and income are made, economic pressure can be alleviated. These policies will have certain impact in reducing poverty for the disability community in the long run and create a system that is based on sustainable universal equality and solidarity.

When a new universal benefits system is achieved and a model that accounts for people with disabilities as people, working-class solidarity is built. A universal benefits program will maintain disability rights as human rights by including all working-class people into a universal program. Under a universal benefits model, people with and without disabilities are banded together and all are invested in a system that works to meet the needs of beneficiaries. By achieving a universal benefits model, attacks to the benefits system will be easier to stop, and all people will be invested into a system that delivers economic justice and inclusion.

Within the wealthiest society in the existence of humankind, a person with a disability should not be forced between living off $12,000 a year and losing much-needed benefits. For too long, people in the disability community have been overlooked by employers and elected officials. The U.S. has enough resources to fund the abolition of poverty of all workers, especially for vulnerable people with disabilities. Working people, poor people and people with disabilities must unite for a system that redistributes wealth to solve the U.S. poverty crisis and guarantees that all people, including those with disabilities, have a job, comprehensive health care and a basic income.

Ending means testing and redistributing wealth to responsibly fund a universal benefits program will create an economy that reduces poverty for all workers, including people with disabilities who have been held back by a flawed system.