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How Do We Get Those Able to Work Off of Disability?
Congress should revise Social Security disability insurance to give them incentives to re-enter the labor force
With the Social Security disability-insurance (SSDI) program heading toward insolvency before the end of next year, lawmakers are looking for reforms to help individuals with disabilities but the capacity to work to return to work. Why it is so hard to get them to do so? Olga Khazan explores the question in a new piece in The Atlantic. Even those awarded benefits for a temporary condition tend to stay on Social Security for the rest of their lives. It’s a tough but urgent question. The disability program has seen tremendous growth in both costs and the number of beneficiaries in recent decades. Since 1990, the share of the working-age population receiving disability benefits has more than doubled — from about one in 40 individuals to about 1 in 20 today. Spending on SSDI has doubled in real terms since 2000. Read more…