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The Facts About Disability Insurance
National Public Radio (NPR) is running a series of stories about the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program. Its first was extremely unbalanced and repeated some of the oft-claimed myths...
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The State of Disability
National Public Radio is running a series of reports about the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program, as I mentioned yesterday. One of its pieces focused on Hale County, Alabama, and...
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SSI Provides Critical Support for Disabled Kids and Their Families
National Public Radio (NPR) is running a series of reports about the disability programs that the Social Security Administration (SSA) runs. While my posts earlier this week (see here and here)...
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No Surprise: Disability Beneficiaries Experience High Death Rates
We’ve written a lot about the Social Security Disability Insurance program, which pays modest benefits (averaging $1,100 a month) to people who have worked substantially in the past but can’t anymore...
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Not So Hale and Hearty: Explaining Disability Rates in One Alabama County
News stories and bloggers continue to point to Hale County, Alabama, as the prototypical example of a place where many residents receive federal disability benefits. But, Hale County is anything but...
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SSI: Helping the Poorest Elderly and Disabled Americans
The National Senior Citizens Law Center and Latinos for a Secure Retirement will host an event tomorrow to spotlight Supplemental Security Income (SSI) — an important but oft-ignored program that...
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What to Look for in Friday’s Social Security Trustees’ 2013 Report
Social Security’s trustees will release their annual review of the program’s finances on Friday. We’re not sure what the report will say, but fluctuations from year to year in the trustees’ long-term...
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Starving the Watchdogs Is Bad Policy
Bloomberg’s Evan Soltas correctly points out that Congress could do more to fund “program-integrity” efforts across the federal government, including at the Social Security Administration (SSA). We...
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What You Need to Know About Social Security’s Solvency
Our annual analysis of the Social Security trustees’ report, which we published earlier this week, follows up on our earlier statement and distills what policymakers and citizens most need to know...
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How to Shore Up Social Security
We pointed out yesterday that Social Security faces a significant, but manageable, shortfall, as we explain in our just-released annual analysis of the Social Security trustees’ report. Here’s how...
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Latest Piece on Disability Insurance Doesn’t Tell the Full Story
A recent Associated Press story on Social Security’s Disability Insurance (DI) program raised some important issues but, like much of the recent spate of coverage of this important program, could...
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Disability Insurance Provides Vital Benefits to Vulnerable Workers
A new Urban Institute report on the economic status and demographic characteristics of Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries echoes what we’ve said before in our report and testimony: DI...
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Ways and Means Mum on Revenue Increases for Social Security in...
The House Ways and Means Committee has invited members of the public to comment on the Bowles-Simpson and Domenici-Rivlin plans to restore solvency to Social Security. But there’s a glaring omission:...
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Happy 78th Birthday, Social Security!
Social Security marks its 78th birthday today. This highly successful program pays benefits to 57 million Americans. It’s the single most important source of income for its elderly beneficiaries,...
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Disability Benefits Are Hard to Get — Even in Recessions
We’ve noted before that economic downturns generally spur more applications for Social Security disability benefits — but have a much smaller effect on awards. (See graph.) That usual pattern is...
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The Economist Gets It Wrong on Disability Insurance
A recent article in the Economist took an uninformed — and unjustified — swipe at Disability Insurance (DI), the part of Social Security that pays modest but vital benefits to people who can no longer...
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Policymakers Should Sift Facts on Disability Insurance Carefully
Critics continue to offer potentially misleading claims about the Disability Insurance (DI) program — a vital part of Social Security that pays modest benefits to people who can no longer do...
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Mapping Disability Receipt
Disability programs are in the news due to the controversy over replenishing Social Security’s Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund. While people who receive disability payments from DI or...
View ArticleObama Budget Would Preserve Disability Benefits While Promoting Thoughtful...
The President’s 2016 budget shows that he’s serious about running Social Security’s disability programs — Disability Insurance (DI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) — tightly without slashing...
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Making Social Security Disability Programs More Efficient
An expert panel recommends sensible steps to strengthen program integrity in Social Security’s Disability Insurance (DI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs so that disability benefits go...
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