Disability Booming In Rhode Island

 From the Providence, RI Journal:

The number of Rhode Islanders collecting disability benefits from the Social Security Administration has grown by 38 percent in the last 10 years — six times the rate of increase for Social Security beneficiaries overall, a Providence Journal analysis of Social Security Administration figures shows. ...

Rhode Island’s experience reflects a broader trend.

At the end of 2001, Social Security paid disability benefits to about 6.9 million disabled workers and dependents of disabled workers. By the end of 2010, that number had ballooned to about 10.2 million, an increase of about 47 percent.

Largely because of the increases, Social Security’s disability insurance trust fund is running a deficit, and the fund itself is projected to reach exhaustion in seven years. ...

There are two main reasons for the jump in SSDI beneficiaries, said Social Security expert

For one thing, baby boomers are getting older, reaching the age at which people are more likely to suffer from disabilities, he said. “The body starts to break down,” he said. “So you’ve got a bigger chunk of people more likely to be disabled.”

Another factor is the economy. Because of high unemployment, more people are turning to Social Security disability as a source of income, said [Kurt] Czarnowski, a retired Social Security official who runs Czarnowski Consulting, a Social Security consulting firm in Norfolk, Mass. ...


“Most people would prefer to work because it pays them better than what they could collect in Social Security disability,” Czarnowski said. “But when jobs disappear, they need income, so they’re turning to any possible source of income that’s out there,” Czarnowski said. “Historically, when the economy has dipped, disability applications have increased,” he said. ...

Aging baby boomers and the economy are not the only factors contributing to the jump in the SSDI rolls. For example:
• Because of an increase in advertising by lawyers and others about SSDI benefits, some people who might not otherwise file for benefits wind up applying, said Steve Colella, a vocational rehabilitation counselor who serves as an expert witness in SSDI appeals cases. Such advertisements “reinforce [the notion of] disability; they don’t reinforce [the notion of] work,” Colella said.
• A set of congressional reforms in 1984 involving SSDI screening led to rapid growth in the share of recipients suffering from back pain and mental illness, according to a 2006 study in the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Among the maladies that applicants cite nowadays in applying for benefits are anxiety, depression and back problems, Colella said.
• The standard definition of disability has not changed, Czarnowski said. But recent developments have had an impact on how the system works, such as new diagnostic tests and new diseases that have emerged, according to Social Security’s Office of the Inspector General.

Kurt Czarnowski was Regional Communications Director for Social Security, a position which would give him no hands on experience with disability determination at Social Security.