May 28, 2022

Death And The Disability Insurance Benficiary

The mortality of DI [Disability Insurance] beneficiaries at any given age is highest during the first few years of benefit receipt and declines with the number of years on the DI rolls

In recent decades, mortality of DI beneficiaries during the first year of benefit receipt has declined at a faster rate, compared with the general population and DI beneficiaries at 10+ years of benefit receipt

Despite longevity gains, the mortality of DI beneficiaries in any time period, at any age, and at any benefit duration is substantially higher, relative to the general population.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kind of obvious that disabled people die in greater numbers.

Anonymous said...

In other news...water is wet

Anonymous said...

No need for sarcasm. The news here is that the mortality rate especially in the first year of entitlement has declined rapidly relative to the general population. I don't know if the article gets into reasons, but some possibilities are:
- Medical advances happen to have been particularly rapid among illnesses that disabled workers are prone to.
- Backlogs, increases in denials, etc., have led to more workers dying before getting on the rolls, with healthier applicants surviving to entitlement.
- Laxer allowance (how likely is that?) has allowed healthier workers on the rolls.

Anonymous said...

I thought the piece said the opposite. Higher death rate for those on disability in the first year or two. Could be people with ALS, cancer, etc are approved and die soon after

Anonymous said...

@ 8:21

I think you misread the conclusion. 10:45 is correct. The study shows that the DI beneficiary death rate is considerably higher than the general population, despite the advancements you cited. It has declined in a vacuum, but not comparable to the general population. Hence the sarcasm.