It is the job of the Social Security Administration (SSA) to review your benefits application and provide you with a fair benefit amount in the form of monthly dollar payments if you meet the requirements for eligibility. The agency’s Social Security disability program in particular, is in place to “to make sure that all Americans have a safety net if they become disabled and can no longer work.”

It’s worth noting that in 2015, 5.2 percent of working-age Americans were getting a monthly subsidy from Social Security’s Disability Insurance (SSDI) Trust Fund. A significant growth, considering that in 1990, fewer than 2.5 percent of working-age Americans were on the fund. Although it’s good news that the SSA is approving more SSDI claims than before, this also means that the Trust Fund is getting depleted.

Congress continues to resuscitate the fund by diverting money from other funds, such as the SS’s old-age survivors’ fund. Most recently, the House used the Bipartisan Budget Act to funnel money from the old-age survivors’ fund to the SSDI Trust Fund to keep it solvent until 2023.

Social Security’s chief actuary Stephen Goss relates the program’s growth to demographic change. As the workforce ages, older workers are more inclined to get sick. In addition, women adding to the workforce means more people have become eligible for benefits, as well.

Compounding the problem is the growth in fraudulent claims. Social Security’s Office of the Inspector General was tapped to open joint fraud investigation offices with local officials in all 50 states to prevent fraudulent claims from getting approved.

Possible reforms are underway for the program: in the coming congress, Republican Representative French Hill plans to reintroduce a bill that would require frequent reviews of disability recipients with nonpermanent conditions. This bill also aims to allow recipients to keep subsidy after being employed rather than being cut off.

Source:

Mapping the Growth of Disability Claims in America, Bloomberg.com