From What Factors Explain the Drop in Disability Insurance Rolls from 2015 to 2019? by Siyan Liu and Laura D. Quinby for the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College:
From What Factors Explain the Drop in Disability Insurance Rolls from 2015 to 2019? by Siyan Liu and Laura D. Quinby for the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College:
lack of info about ability to claim DI after early retirement age, most likely!
ReplyDeleteOr, maybe, taking the sure thing NOW instead of hoping to get more 2 years later?
ReplyDelete"I just want to collect my retirement, I don't consider myself disabled."
ReplyDelete"I just want to collect my retirement, Disability benefits are for people who are really sick."
"I just want to collect my retirement, I am disabled but the process of applying would exhaust me."
Any other variations, fellow CSs?
Tim, there's nothing to prevent people from applying for DI while claiming/getting early retirement benefits...except their lack of knowledge about the option, or the desire not to get DI (often itself based in a lack of knowledge, or stigma). People who get early retirement and are later awarded DI get their benefits adjusted, and may also become eligible for Medicare earlier than age 65.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the retirement application even asks if you are disabled and unable to work, so yeah, its not that they didnt know.
ReplyDelete7:57, the SSA-1 asks "are you, or during the past 14 months have you been, unable to work because of illnesses, injuries, or conditions?"
ReplyDeleteSetting aside the folks who don't read well enough to understand that, there are a lot of people who might answer no but would likely qualify for DI:
* people who are working, but below SGA
* people who aren't working but attribute this to family caretaking, early retirement, job loss, etc. rather than their health conditions
* people who aren't working but think they could be, who may or may not be looking for work
* people who don't consider themselves disabled, often because their decline in function has been so gradual
I think there are better ways to word this question, and that people may not understand the financial consequences of not applying for DI. There will always be people who would qualify who don't claim (heck, there are people insured for retirement benefits who don't claim by age 70, and that's a much simpler process!) but SSA could communicate better too.
9:45 that is pretty straight forward. What do you want it say? "Want a check for you back pain?"
ReplyDeletehow about "do you want to apply for disability benefits in addition to making a retirement claim?" with a popout box explaining disability benefits and providing a link to an estimator of how much higher the benefits would be? For people under age 63, it could also have info about Medicare.
ReplyDelete