Early Evidence of COVID’s Toll on Disability Community

Fewer people with disabilities applied for federal benefits during COVID. The main reason for the drop could’ve been anything from the ease of working at home to evade the virus to the difficulty of applying after Social Security closed its field offices during the pandemic.

But fewer applicants does not point to progress. In fact, COVID caused a disproportionate increase in the death rate in the disability community and also attracted younger and possibly sicker applicants with work-limiting conditions to the federal disability programs, according to University of Colorado researcher Lauren Nicholas.

Since her findings apply only to the pandemic’s first year, they also raise questions about the longer-term impacts if COVID and related medical conditions continue to bring in disability applicants over time.

In more normal years, the death rate is fairly low for individuals who are receiving disability benefits. But in the first nine months of 2020, their death rate increased 21 percent over 2019 levels. The increase was 24 percent for people in a companion program, Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The increases in these death rates were much larger than the 16 percent rise in the U.S. population overall, Nicholas found.

Another unusual aspect of the 2020 applicants is that they were younger – by nine months for disability benefits and by six months for SSI – than applicants in the years leading up to the pandemic.

The researcher said the 2020 applicants also may have been sicker. The largest increase in applications was among people whose impairments fell in the “all other” category, which includes various COVID-related medical diagnoses. It may be that fewer marginal applicants were applying during the pandemic, but there were more people with serious illnesses that were easier for the government to verify than the typical back problems or mental health issues that are common in more normal times.

COVID’s impact in the early months is only part of the picture. “It will be important to continue monitoring trends” as more data come in, the researcher said.

To read this study by Lauren Nicholas, see “Changes in the Composition of Disability Insurance Applicants and Recipients in the Wake of the Coronavirus Epidemic.”

The research reported herein was derived in whole or in part from research activities performed pursuant to a grant from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) funded as part of the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium.  The opinions and conclusions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not represent the opinions or policy of SSA, any agency of the federal government, or Boston College.  Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the contents of this report.  Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof.