From a contracting notice posted by the Social Security Administration:
The Social Security Administration (SSA) seeks a contractor to assist in a synthesis of the lessons learned from the tests of new policies (i.e., demonstrations) that SSA has conducted. The contractor will convene a state of the science meeting, edit the resulting papers, and publish a volume targeting policymakers and others interested in Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and related policies. ...
Over the past 30-plus years, SSA has also conducted several tests of new policies and programs to improve beneficiary work outcomes. These demonstrations have covered most aspects of the SSDI and SSI programs/populations and have addressed topics including family supports, children, informational notices, changes to benefit calculations, and a variety of employment services and program waivers. ...
These demonstrations have generated dozens of documents reporting which policies worked and which did not. However, apart from a few cursory reviews in academic survey articles or Congressional Research Service reports, little has been done to synthesize the findings of these demonstrations to identify cross-demonstration lessons about which policies, program, and other operational decisions would provide effective supports for disability beneficiaries who want to work.
By taking stock of the full lessons learned from prior demonstrations, policymakers will have the understanding of what has been tested and whether and why those policies were effective. In turn, this understanding will enable SSA to implement policies that work in multiple settings, propose alternatives to policies that may not have worked for identifiable reasons, and identify policies and strategies for future demonstrations. ...
This proceeds from the unshakeable belief that it's easy to get on Social Security disability benefits and that, therefore, it's easy for recipients to get back to work. They just need the right incentives. There has to be a way. Surely, somewhere hidden in all the research and demonstrations Social Security has done, there must be a path visible, a way to put many of those people back to work.
I'm familiar with the research history. There's no path hidden away in some unread journal. The truth is that it's extremely difficult to get on Social Security disability benefits. Very few who get on benefits get significantly better. In fact, the vast majority keep getting worse. This contract will be a waste of money.
Allow me to put this in terms a donkey can understand, but a bureaucrat and a Congressman apparently cannot: More Carrot, less stick!!!
ReplyDeleteOf course, some could never really earn SGA no matter how many incentives and accommodations you give them and the companies that hire them. As soon as the incentives to companies are removed, the jobs will be too! I know from personal experience that no matter how much you may still want to work, sometimes you just are not capable of it! You have to know your limitations. I know when I try to exceed them for even a few minutes, I will feel the repercussions for several days.
1/2 the aljs above hocalj do LESS than close one case per MONTH!. Some do ZERO cases per YEAR! Those gold bricks should be reading all these reports as they aren't doing much else [e.g. in one case being labeled the cat's paw for mirroring management's position in one case!]. We need working aljs to Improve the system
ReplyDeleteIf you want to get ROI on incentives to work, screen the rolls of the under 18 year olds on SSI. Some aren't going to get better and be able to do real work, some will only be able to do sheltered work, but many are getting booted after 18 unprepared because they can go do unskilled heavy and very heavy work but have had no academic success at all. Just because Jane or Johnny isn't able to read very well or struggles with math doesn't mean they cannot learn semi-skilled and skilled work in a number of good paying trades.
ReplyDeleteWith adults. Roughly 40% going on disability were in such bad shape DDS allowed them at initial or recon. Of the ones advancing to hearing level and being allowed many received allowance because their age category changed and/or their condition worsened.
Outside of a few people who once Medicare kicks in can have surgery or receive regular treatment that improves their condition, adults in general do not get better and they most certainly do not move a younger age category.
Imagine a service for sale to help people with disabilities. It might help some, but it is complex and it is hard to understand how it works. Most won't understand how it works and if they make mistakes they risk forfeiting their monthly fixed income and health insurance, and perhaps even having even to defend themselves against a fraud claim. Imagine further, that for every positive review of the service there are many negative reviews from real people with disabilities who were penalized while trying to use it. Unpopular service? You bet! Even amongst that small percentage of disability beneficiaries who could do some work, most are understandably reluctant to use that system.
ReplyDelete7:58 PM This is what I mean by "less stick." If you prefer, a much better risk/reward assessment. Right now, all these attempts to encourage the small percentage that possibly could work, if only for a short period of time, fail because there is WAY too much risk and only limited reward. It makes much more sense to try to work on a limited basis that would increase your income, but doesn't risk (other than CDRs) your SSDI. If someone getting $1400 on SSDI could make $1800 (full time at $10 an hour), they would lose the SSDI and Medicare. Maybe they would get insurance, maybe they wouldn't. Either way, it would make much more sense to make $700-$800 a month instead! Additionally, this level might be more sustainable for them. Some might call this "gaming the system," but this is the only sensible way to improve your income. Just making $1000-$2000 a month would be foolish. Can someone, who hasn't worked or worked much in a year or several years, really get and sustain a job that pays them $3000-4000 a month? With significant accommodations? What percentage of those on SSDI could fit these circumstances? But, if you REALLY want people to try, you have to increase the reward AND decrease the risk. These programs don't work because they are designed to fail!!!
ReplyDeleteTim If said person gets thrown off for SGA they get Medicare for a LONG time. If they are medically recovered they don't but working above SGA doesn't stop Medicare for many years (forgot but at least 5).
ReplyDelete@ 4:57 according to the last census, about 25% of people with a severe functional disability are working, we should have better numbers after the new census data becomes available and we see if there is an impact on the numbers due to a better economy, more assistive tech, and advances in med treatment/medications.
ReplyDelete@4:47 I am one of them working
ReplyDeleteThe comments that talk about increased in technology, medical assistive devices, reasonable accommodations, etc., are laughable. SSA, which administers the Disability Program, is by far the absolute worst when it comes to hiring people with disabilities, and especially providing reasonable accommodations for employees who develop a disability.
ReplyDeleteThe Jantz Class Action Disability case lingered more than a decade with SSA refusing to do anything for these employees. Many of the Plaintiffs merely requested reasonable accommodations which were medically supported and SSA could not show Undue Burden to provide the accommodation. Yet, none of these employees never got the accommodations, and were forced out of their jobs by horrendous and abusive actions engaged by SSA Managers at all levels, and local Managers often enlisted other favorite employees to target the employee they were trying to push out. It was not unusual for such conduct to extend far beyond the workplace.
When the Jantz Disability Class Action finally settled, the Plaintiff’s got precious little. What’s worse, none of the SSA Managers who engaged in wrongful and/or abusive conduct were held accountable in any way. In fact, many were promoted through the ranks. What’s worse is that many of the Plaintiffs who requested reasonable accommodations and had appropriate medical support, were some of SSA’s best and brightest employees who had been with SSA for years, if not decades. The main Plaintiff in the Jantz case began his career with SSA in 1988. Thus, we are not talking about poor performers or problem employees who were Plaintiffs in this case. What I find most interesting is why does SSA routinely promote the least competent, poor performers through the ranks into Management positions, and grossly abuse and mistreat many of its best and brightest?
In the years since the Jantz Disability Class Action case settled, things have not improved one bit a SSA. If anything, the circumstances for those who develop disabilities has become even more abusive coinciding with the increased abusive and demoralizing treatment if SSA’s entire workforce. In conclusion, you can talk about all the perceived wonderful developments for those with disabilities that presumably help them stay or return to the workforce, but when the very Agency that handles Disability Cases behaves in the manner it does, it fails to set any example for how all other employers should behave. Unless or until conduct vastly improves on the employer side of the equation, none of this is going anywhere,
Kessler Foundation 07/2019
ReplyDeleteJob numbers were up substantially for Americans with disabilities, an encouraging sign for those striving to work, according to today's National Trends in Disability Employment - Monthly Update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire's Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). As we celebrate our nation's Independence Day, we celebrate the many Americans with disabilities living independently in their communities, and the successful initiatives that support and sustain them.
In the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report released Friday:
The employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities increased from 29.5 percent in June 2018 to 31 percent in June 2019 (up 5.1 percent or 1.5 percentage points).
For working-age people without disabilities, the employment-to-population ratio also increased from 74.5 percent in June 2018 to 74.9 percent in June 2019 (up 0.5 percent or 0.4 percentage points).
"This extends the positive change we saw last month," said John O'Neill, PhD, director of employment and disability research at Kessler Foundation. "Continuation of this upward movement would be a step toward greater independence for people with disabilities."
The labor force participation rate for working-age people with disabilities increased from 32.5 percent in June 2018 to 33.9 percent in June 2019 (up 4.3 percent or 1.4 percentage points).
For working-age people without disabilities, the labor force participation rate also increased from 77.6 percent in June 2018 to 77.8 percent in June 2019 (up 0.3 percent or 0.2 percentage points).
The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the population that is working or actively looking for work.
@2:29:
DeleteNo thanks to SSA Management.