What Ending Benefits Means For Immunocompromised Montanans

By Emily Withnall, Daily Montanan

July 5, 2021

Sarah Capdeville, a writer and editor from Missoula, recently opened a letter from the Department of Labor and Industry reminding her that because she is immunocompromised and at higher risk for contracting COVID-19. She had qualified for extended unemployment benefits, but Montana’s federally funded unemployment benefits were ending on June 26, and that being at higher risk would no longer qualify Capdeville for benefits.

Montana is among 26 Republican-governed states across the U.S. opting to end the extension of federally funded unemployment benefits before its September 2021 expiration date. Across the country, these benefits had been instated to ensure a safety net for people affected by the pandemic. According to a congressional report issued on June 15, 2021, pandemic unemployment rates soared to 14.8 percent in April of 2020—their highest since the early 1970s.

At the end of April 2021, there were 25,000 people unemployed in Montana and only 14,000 job openings — many of which were minimum-wage jobs. Montana’s minimum wage is $8.65 per hour — just more than $18,000 a year for someone working 40 hours a week. So even before the pandemic, it was tough for families to make ends meet. The extended unemployment provides families with vital funds to pay their bills on time, put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads while staying safe from the spread of COVID-19.

Montana plans to offer a $1,200 incentive to anyone who secures a job and can prove four weeks of consecutive work following the June 27 expiration of federal unemployment benefits. But a one-time bonus can’t make up for a lifetime of low wages. And even if all 14,000 jobs were filled by people qualified for them, this would leave 11,000 Montanans in the lurch.

Capdeville is one of these Montanans.

When the pandemic hit, she was gearing up to work the front desk at a Forest Service office, but because she has lupus she had to step away from the position since it was not possible to do the work remotely. Lupus, like other autoimmune diseases, involves the immune system attacking its own organs. There is no cure for lupus but it can be managed with treatment and by taking precautions around exposure to viruses like COVID-19. Fortunately, the federal extension of unemployment benefits, along with less stringent work requirements, made it possible for Capdeville to search for work that would not jeopardize her health.

“With the extended benefits, I was able to get a letter from my doctor saying ‘Sarah has lupus, she’s at higher risk for COVID. She shouldn’t be looking or getting jobs dealing with the public,’” said Capdeville. “If I didn’t find anything because there weren’t any remote jobs, I was still able to get those benefits, which were a real lifesaver.”

Capdeville is grateful for the support the expanded unemployment benefits offered her, pointing out that for people with chronic illnesses, the safety net covered a group of people who often fall through the cracks of unemployment and disability. Typical unemployment requirements do not accommodate people like Capdeville who cannot stand for 40 hours a week or work a traditional schedule. Likewise, to qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), an individual cannot have more than $2,000 in assets. The expanded pandemic unemployment benefits have provided unprecedented support for a lot of Americans who now face losing it again.

For now, Capdeville has secured a fully remote part-time seasonal job in her field. However, with mask mandates lifted in Montana, Capdeville worries that when her job resumes again in the fall she will not be able to work remotely.

“I’m fully vaccinated, but there’s still not a lot of information about how people with compromised immune systems–people who’ve had organ transplants, HIV, or anything interacting with the immune system—how effective the vaccine is,” she says.

In May of 2021, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Surveys and concluded that the cash assistance provided to Americans in the form of extended federal unemployment benefits and stimulus payments led to declines in material hardship, food insufficiency and symptoms of depression. Data revealed that material hardship was eased most following the March 2021 passage of the December 2020 COVID-19 relief bill and the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act.

The data is clear: Direct cash assistance helps families and individuals who are otherwise very vulnerable and cannot make ends meet in an economy that values profits over people. The pandemic has disproportionately affected women, children, people with disabilities and compromised immune systems, and Black, Indigenous, Latino and Asian people, among other marginalized populations.

“COVID is going to stay around, it’s not going anywhere,” says Capdeville. “And so, looking forward for myself and other people who are immunocompromised, not having the work search requirement expanded in a way that allows us to look for work that’s safe for us is the scariest part for me.”

Keeping extended federally funded unemployment benefits for people struggling with juggling work requirements and family care, people unable to find work, or people like Capdeville, who fall into a grey area and don’t receive the support they need in the old system, would demonstrate a real commitment to all Montanans.

Some of the solutions to the pandemic have proven not only what is possible, but what is necessary. Building a caring economy means ensuring that wages and safety nets provide families and individuals with the financial support they need to thrive.

Emily Withnall lives in Missoula her work has appeared in Al Jazeera, The Progressive Magazine, Parents Magazine, and Business Insider, among others. She currently serves as a fellow with Community Change.

The Daily Montanan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan source for trusted news, commentary and insight into statewide policy and politics beneath the Big Sky.