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Disability in the United States has been growing faster than it supposedly should. I say supposedly because things government did were supposed to curtail disability (such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, advances in medicine, less physically demanding jobs, etc.). But this entitlement program is expanding, and it has been doing so for decades, mostly to accommodate older workers who can't readily find good paying jobs (or any jobs) any more. Jonah Goldberg asked earlier this week if disability is the new welfare? Right now disability payments and costs dwarf the food stamp program and welfare combined.
And if you think this is just the right wing talking, NPR's This American Life noted the trends in its story, Unfit for Work, about the new trends in disability. And Ira Glass and This American Life caught a lot of flack from the left over it. Ira Glass and This American Life are standing by the story.
While the on going recession/lack luster growth over the past eight years is certainly not helping, disability has been growing steadily over the past 30 years (basically since Gingrich and Clinton reformed welfare). And while I agree with Jonah a bit more scrutiny on actual disability factors is warranted, this letter from a disability lawyer to Jonah suggests disability is hiding (and mitigating) more endemic problems on where our economy and work force are going? As that lawyer's letter to Goldberg notes, disability is essentially early retirement for the poor. This is not a situation that is easily fixed politically. There are a lot of voters getting these benefits, both from the left and the right of the political spectrum. And since states pay for the bulk of welfare, but the federal government pays for disabilities, the emphasis by local government is to support disabilities expending.
We keep hearing how workers are dropping out of unemployment. But dependency is not something that should be encouraged. Disability helps encourage that. And it is not as simple as calling it a scam or fraud: For a lot of these workers they lose their jobs, they are older and their health is naturally deteriorating (and often their past jobs are a contributing factor to the health conditions they have), they lose health care, their health gets worse, and before you know it even if they were marginally disabled before, they are actually disabled over time. It is a vicious cycle that is encouraged by perverse incentives in the current system.
And if you think this is just the right wing talking, NPR's This American Life noted the trends in its story, Unfit for Work, about the new trends in disability. And Ira Glass and This American Life caught a lot of flack from the left over it. Ira Glass and This American Life are standing by the story.
While the on going recession/lack luster growth over the past eight years is certainly not helping, disability has been growing steadily over the past 30 years (basically since Gingrich and Clinton reformed welfare). And while I agree with Jonah a bit more scrutiny on actual disability factors is warranted, this letter from a disability lawyer to Jonah suggests disability is hiding (and mitigating) more endemic problems on where our economy and work force are going? As that lawyer's letter to Goldberg notes, disability is essentially early retirement for the poor. This is not a situation that is easily fixed politically. There are a lot of voters getting these benefits, both from the left and the right of the political spectrum. And since states pay for the bulk of welfare, but the federal government pays for disabilities, the emphasis by local government is to support disabilities expending.
We keep hearing how workers are dropping out of unemployment. But dependency is not something that should be encouraged. Disability helps encourage that. And it is not as simple as calling it a scam or fraud: For a lot of these workers they lose their jobs, they are older and their health is naturally deteriorating (and often their past jobs are a contributing factor to the health conditions they have), they lose health care, their health gets worse, and before you know it even if they were marginally disabled before, they are actually disabled over time. It is a vicious cycle that is encouraged by perverse incentives in the current system.
It be nice if unemployment data captured the reality of the situation and did more to include people on disability.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.statisticsblog.com/2013/03/minding-the-reality-gap/