Report
Women and Disability Insurance: Five Facts You Should Know
Many overall trends that sometimes provoke criticism can be better understood in light of women's rising role in the program.
Disability
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Chart Book
Social Security Disability Insurance
Policy Basics
Supplemental Security Income
Policy Basics
Social Security’s Disability Insurance (DI) program provides modest but vital benefits to workers who can no longer do substantial work due to a severe medical impairment.
We work to ensure that the program is adequately funded and to analyze reform proposals to determine their impact on the program’s long-term solvency and its beneficiaries.
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After Decades of Neglect, It’s Time to Rebuild SSI
As policymakers craft economic recovery legislation later this year, they should include measures to expand and simplify the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, which provides...
Policymakers Should Expand and Simplify Supplemental Security Income
SSI benefits are critical for those who need them, but SSI is woefully out of...
People Who Seek Disability Benefits Face Health, Economic Challenges
People who seek Social Security disability benefits face many financial, social, and health challenges, a recent study confirms, rebutting any notion that applicants who are denied benefits can...
President’s Budget Would Hurt People With Disabilities
President Trump’s 2021 budget would make it harder for millions of people with disabilities to afford such basics as food, housing, and health care by cutting tens of billions of dollars from...
Social Security Disability Insurance Still Shrinking
Applications and benefit awards for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) fell again in 2019, new data show, adding to the significant declines since 2010 (see graph). Total SSDI enrollment...
Senate Bill Would Cut Social Security Operations Again
This summer’s budget deal between President Trump and congressional leaders offers enough total discretionary dollars to give the Social Security Administration (SSA) a much-needed funding boost in...
Trump Poverty Line Proposal Would Hurt Seniors, People With Disabilities
The Trump Administration is considering whether to use a lower inflation measure to calculate annual adjustments to the federal poverty line. This approach would ultimately hurt millions of...
SSA Staffing Shortage Hurts Hard-Working Americans
Years of SSA cuts have already taken their toll, causing the agency to lose 12 percent of its staff since 2010, close field offices, and shorten office hours, even as it faced record-high...
Denied Disability Applicants Fare Badly in the Labor Market
Older applicants who are denied Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits struggle in the labor market afterward, new research confirms, providing further evidence that SSDI’s standards...
Happy Birthday, Social Security Disability Insurance!
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) turns 62 today and, to mark the occasion, we’ve updated our chart book and backgrounder on this vital program, which provides modest benefits to workers...