Disability Illusions

From a press release issued by "America's Health Insurance Plans:"

Most Baby Boomers underestimate their risk of suffering a disability that would cause them to miss work for an extended period of time, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Americas Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). ...

The survey found that just over a third of Baby Boomers think the chances of becoming disabled due to illness or injury is 5 percent or less, a slight majority think the chances are 10 percent or less, and two-thirds think the chances are 20 percent or less. In reality, a worker has a 30% chance of suffering a disabling injury or illness causing him or her to miss three or more months of work before reaching retirement, according to the Social Security Administration. ...

One of the reasons Baby Boomers underestimate their risk is because they are unaware of the most common causes of disability, mistakenly believing that injuries cause more disabilities than illnesses. According to the survey, Boomers believe the most common causes of disability are back, muscle or joint problems (26 percent), injuries on the job (18 percent) and injuries off the job (16 percent). In actuality, research shows that the most common causes of disability are illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Even policymakers share many of the same illusions, persistently believing that rehabilitation is possible for a high percentage of Social Security disability benefits recipients -- because they believe that a high percentage of the disabled will get better because they became disabled as a result of trauma. The reality is that the vast majority of disability is caused by disorders that just keep getting worse, making rehabilitation impossible.