Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-2024

Abstract

Of the many alarmist commentaries on U.S. disability benefits in recent memory, few have explored state and local governments’ efforts to channel needy residents toward disability-based income support programs—and to thereby shift the cost of care onto the federal government. This Essay documents the rich history of such efforts, going back to the 1980s. This Essay also emphasizes an inflection point in this history: Starting in the early 1990s, private, for-profit consulting companies began securing contracts from states for the “shifting” work that legal aid organizations had been doing. Simultaneously, these companies marketed their “revenue maximization” services, encouraging state officials to see federal health and welfare programs as a resource to be mined. This Essay connects this extractive mindset to today’s “extractive federalism,” which scholars have documented in both the foster care and nursing home contexts. From the state and local perspective, extractive federalism may be rational: In a context of real or perceived resource scarcity, it secures funds for public purposes. But these tactics have come at the expense of vulnerable people. Those whose needs make the federal spigots turn do not necessarily benefit from the resulting federal dollars. Meanwhile, these tactics obscure from the public the true nature of federal spending.

Publication Title

Wisconsin Law Review

Publication Citation

2024 Wis. L. Rev. 1535 (2024)

DOI

https://doi.org/10.59015/wlr.ELGW4259

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