Could State and Local DI Programs Shed Light on Trends in SSDI?

The brief’s key findings are:

• Disability insurance programs, such as Social Security’s SSDI, are designed to provide income yet maintain work incentives.
• Policymakers need to know what design features most effectively balance these twin goals.
• State and local programs can be used to study this question because their eligibility rules and benefits vary widely.
• A simple analysis, using a new dataset available later this fall, suggests that this variation influences disability insurance claiming rates.