The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program has been providing benefits to American workers who have become disabled and are no longer able to work, or maintain a certain standard of employment know as Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA), since 1956. Even though the program spans 60 years it could’ve been around for as long as 80 years, just like the Social Security retirement program, but Congress debated the SSDI program for 20 years before passage.
From the beginning the SSDI program has consisted of five different principles, which remain part of the program today in some form. Back in 1956 these principles were:
- Benefits would be for individuals with established work histories who were unable to continue working because of disability;
- Benefits would be earned under the program and paid for with dedicated contributions;
- The definition of would be strict, requiring a medically determinable impairment that prevented substantial work and was expected to last indefinitely;
- Benefits would be modest, providing workers who became disabled with a basic level of financial security;
- And, return to work would be encouraged and supported through the provision of vocational services.
So now that we know what the founding principles of the SSDI program were in 1956 lets see how closely the program has stuck to those founding principles:
- A worker cannot receive SSDI benefits on their own employment record if they have not worked long enough or more recent enough to have the established work credits. In 1956 a worker earned a credit for every $50 they earned through work related activity. Today, one credit is worth every $1,200 earned;
- Those eligible have to pay into Social Security for a significant amount of time to even have an opportunity to apply for disability benefits. The general rule of thumb is that to have enough credits to meet the technical requirements of SSDI, you had to have worked at least 5 out of the last 10 years;
- It is not easy to qualify medically for Social Security disability benefits. Even a whitepaper written on the topic concludes that “Social Security’s test of disability is very strict.” Additionally, many people who do end up qualifying for SSDI are older. About 66 percent of new SSDI recipients were 50 years old or older;
- Even today, SSDI benefits, like Social Security retirement benefits are modest. Approximately 76 percent of those who received SSDI benefits receive less than $1,500 per month and benefits are much lower than what the disabled worker earned while working;
- Social Security never uses the term permanently disabled. Yes, there are people who go on SSDI benefits who never return to work and collect benefits until they reach retirement age, but many more people receive benefits for a period of time and return to work. Social Security takes a pretty active approach to this as they assist people with vocational training sources and even allow people to work and earn a bit of money while still receiving SSDI benefits. After someone is awarded SSDI benefits Social Security usually issues a requirement that the agency does a continuing disability review to determine if the person is still disabled. A vast majority of these reviews are completed within three years of a disability determination.
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