Fact Sheet: Sorting Out Social Security Disability Programs: Information From A Nonpartisan Source

As Social Security disability programs draw attention from policy makers, the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) offers objective information that can help to sort through the complexity of these programs and the issues that surround them. The Academy is a nonprofit research and education organization made of up of the nation’s leading experts on Social Security, Medicare and other social insurance programs. It completed a comprehensive review of the disability programs by its independent Disability Policy Panel in 1996 and since then has conducted numerous seminars, workshops and conference that build on and disseminate the work of that panel. The Academy does not lobby or take positions on policy issues.

What is the Social Security disability insurance (DI) program?

• See

Disability Questions and Answers

What is the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability program?

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Disability Questions and Answers

How many working-aged Americans have disabilities?

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Disability Questions and Answers

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Dispelling the Myths About Work Disability

, by Marjorie Baldwin and William Johnson (paper presented at Academy conference, December 15, 2000)

How many working-aged Americans receive Social Security or SSI disability benefits?

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Disability Questions and Answers

How much do these programs cost, and who pays for them?

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Disability Questions and Answers

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2001 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds

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2000 Annual Report of the Supplemental Security Income Program

How much do typical beneficiaries receive?

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Disability Questions and Answers

What is the economic status of disabled-worker beneficiaries?

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Income of Disabled-Worker Beneficiaries

Living with a Work Disability: Beneficiary Perspectives

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Stories from People Receiving Disability Benefits

[panel report excerpt]

Evaluating Disability Income Policy: Findings of the Academy’s Disability Policy Panel

[excerpts from Panel’s report]

How Does Disability Income Policy Fit Into the Broader Disability Policy Picture?

Does the Social Security Definition of Work Disability Fit the Program’s Purpose?

How are Disability Claims Decided?

Why do the Rolls Grow and Shrink?

Are DI benefits a Deterrent to Work?

Does the Social Security Administration Have Adequate Funding to Administer the Program with Fairness and Integrity?

What is the Academy’s Disability Policy Panel?