When Will They Ever Learn?

     From a "Policy Futures" paper by Kathleen Romig for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP):

The October 2015 budget agreement extended the solvency of the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund into 2022 and renewed the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) authority to conduct demonstration projects, allowing the agency to test ideas to encourage work among DI beneficiaries and applicants.  This creates an opportunity to build further evidence on the efficacy of various ideas to encourage work among this population. 

New demonstrations will likely produce only limited results, however.  SSA has conducted many work-incentive experiments over the past 25 years, and none has led to a significant number of beneficiaries earning enough to support themselves and leave DI.  This result should not come as a surprise.  DI’s eligibility criteria are strict.  Few DI beneficiaries are able to work.  Still fewer are likely to be able to return to self-supporting work on a sustained basis. ...

TABLE 1

SSA Work-Incentive Experiments Have Shown Only Limited Results
Demonstration	Years	Description	Effects
Benefit Offset National Demonstration (BOND)	2009-2017	Testing a $1-for-$2 benefit offset for earnings above SGA level, with additional work supports for “Phase 2” beneficiaries	Small effects on earnings (Phase 2 only) Increased benefit payments
Accelerated Benefits Demonstration	2004-2011	Provided health care to DI beneficiaries during 24-month waiting period for Medicare, with additional medical and work supports for “AB Plus” beneficiaries	Improved health outcomes Negligible effect on employment For AB Plus, greater use of return-to-work services, but some evidence employment effects are temporary
Mental Health Treatment Study	2003-2011	Provided medical and employment supports to beneficiaries with schizophrenia or affective disorders	Improved employment and earnings Improved mental health status No impact on earnings above SGA No impact on benefits
Benefit Offset: Four-State Pilot	2003-2009	Replaced “cash cliff” with a $1-for-$2 offset for earnings above SGA level, with additional work supports	Small increase in earnings above SGA No effect on mean earnings No effect on employment Effects varied by participant subgroup
Youth Transition Demonstration	2001-2014	Waived SSI income and asset rules, provided state-designed employment and education supports for young DI and SSI beneficiaries	Little to no effect on employment and earnings SSA periodically revisiting outcomes
Ticket to Work	1999-present	Provides vocational rehabilitation and work support from employment networks (Ticket to Work is a change in law, not a demonstration)	Increased use of return-to-work services Little effect on employment Little effect on benefits
State Partnership Initiative	1998-2006	Tested variety of state-designed interventions, including Medicaid waivers and employment services for DI and SSI beneficiaries	Small and mixed effects on employment No effect — or negative effect — on earnings
Project NetWork	1991-1999	Offered intensive outreach, work-incentive waivers, and case management services to DI and SSI applicants and recipients	Small short-term effect on earnings No effect on benefits