Study Reveals New Insight About Social Security Disability Benefits Amid Agency's Influx Of Problems

". . . With millions of Americans' unemployment benefits expiring, and as the Social Security Administration comes under increasing pressure to reform its financially-troubled entitlement program, policymakers are asking whether a significant amount of Americans are bilking disability benefits from federal coffers. A new study from Columbia Business School sheds light on the answer.

The research, titled "Unemployment Insurance and Disability Insurance in the Great Recession,"  [Direct link to PDF here] refutes the idea that the jobless and uninsured flock to disability benefits when their unemployment benefits expire.

"Contrary to the beliefs of many, even in policy circles, our research proves that the unemployed do not directly file for disability following the exhaustion of benefits," says Columbia Business SchoolProfessor Andreas Mueller, who helmed the study. "The evidence is just not there. As a matter of fact, fewer than 2% of workers whose unemployment benefits had expired actually applied for disability insurance."

The study was co-conducted by University of California, Berkeley Professor Jesse Rothstein, and University of California, Los Angeles Professor Tim M. von Wachter. . . "

The Sacramento Bee http://www.sacbee.com/2014/02/10/6144130/study-reveals-new-insight-about.html