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Public Benefits

People should have access to the care and support they need to lead safe and healthy lives.

The goal of this work is to help state and national partners — especially legal aid organizations and nonprofit attorneys — to interrogate, litigate against, and improve public benefits technologies (e.g., for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and SNAP). We have seen how technology can hinder or support access to benefits, as well as how implementing new technologies can hide political discretion in allocating resources. Because of this, we do proactive research into better approaches to expanding access, while helping to address immediate problems with technologies used today for benefits administration.

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Benefits Tech Advocacy Hub

Upturn, Legal Aid of Arkansas, and the National Health Law Program

We’re partnering with Legal Aid of Arkansas and the National Health Law Program to provide tools for advocates to fight harmful benefits technology and to build a community of advocates and technologists working to challenge tech that keeps people from accessing benefits.

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Latest work in this issue area

All work in this issue area
Comments on Medicaid administration technology

We submitted comments in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ request for information on Access to Care and Coverage for People Enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. These comments focus on the ways that the technology used to administer Medicaid — in particular, Medicaid Long-Term Services & Supports — can increase barriers to accessing care.

Emily Paul and Emma Weil

How an SSI eligibility system wrongfully terminated benefits

Upturn supported New York Legal Assistance Group in its settlement of a lawsuit against the Social Security Administration regarding its wrongful terminations of Supplement Security Income beneficiaries.

Emma Weil and Aaron Rieke