Governors' disability report omits private insurers

A team at the National Governors Association (NGA) has created a 40-page report on employing people with disabilities without including any mention of disability insurance or disability insurance company return-to-work programs.

State governors who want to improve disability employment should consider ramping up state government recruitment efforts and efforts to help people understand state and federal disability benefits programs, the team says in the report.

In a section on helping a state’s private businesses hire more workers with disabilities, the NGA team suggests telling employers to talk to universities, state vocational rehabilitation agencies, and private and nonprofit training providers. The team never suggests that an employer could try talking to private disability insurers, however.

In a section on keeping workers with disabilities employed, the NGA team refers to an Illinois retention program and federal retention programs. The team does not refer to private disability insurers’ role in managing return-to-work programs at either public or private employers.