The Trust Fund for Social Security Disability Insurance will run out of money by the end of 2016. If no changes are made, all SSDI benefits will have to be reduced to 81% of scheduled benefits after that. Congress must act to avoid this outcome. The easiest fix would be to merge SSDI into the larger Social Security program in which case both SSDI and SSI would run out of money about 2033.
But as the Manhattan Institute’s Scott Winship points out in National Affairs, “How to Fix Disability Insurance,” “the looming insolvency of the SSDI Trust Fund offers a rare opportunity to fundamentally reform SSDI” to better target assistance to those with debilitating impairments who truly need this support. The share of adults age 25 to 64 receiving SSDI benefits has tripled from 1.6% to 5% between 1970 and 2010 during a time when a shift from manufacturing, agriculture and mining to service work has reduced physical demands on workers.
Mr. Winship suggests the following reforms be implemented in the SSDI program:
- Raise the 1.8% (out of the total 12.4% of the payroll tax going to SS) going to SSDI slightly to solve the immediate problem.
- Expand the support options available to able-bodied men and women who can work, at least for a significant number of hours.
- Reduce the number of people applying for benefits. For example, by increasing employer incentives for taking stricter safety measures, accommodating and rehabilitating those who become disabled and making greater use of claims management.
- Use a stricter definition of disability. For example, mental and musculoskeletal conditions may be amenable to treatment.
- Make it less attractive and more difficult to receive benefits for those who, while impaired, are able to work. Conditions likely to improve would be automatically subject to review after a short period of time.
- Facilitate work among those with serious impairments who would still like to work. The point here is to make sure they benefit from working without feeling threatened with possible termination of benefits.
The point is that there are many practical steps which can be taken to make SSDI more cost efficient while preserving it for those who truly need it. This is a good example of the sort of changes that need to be made in all entitlement programs to shore them up for future generations by bringing their huge costs under control.
