Social Security Disability Insurance Case Study

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Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is one of the largest federal programs. SSDI was originally created as a modest safety net aimed to help disabled workers close to retirement age. Over the decades, Congress has expanded benefit levels and eligibility standards. These new eligibility standards are not as strict and allow for additional applications and Insurers. Due to a lack of oversight, federal disability costs have amplified due to fraud and errors within the system processes.
The original Social Security program was created in 1935 however disability insurance was not included until 1956. In 1956, Social Security was amended to create a federal disability insurance program, and Social Security Disability Insurance was introduced. Initially the program was created for individuals between the ages of 50 and 65 who had substantial work history, children who were disabled before the age of 18 and dependents of deceased workers. (DeHaven)
In 1960, age restrictions were removed and benefits were extended to people of all ages. The number of people enrolled in SSDI has increased rapidly in recent years. The Increase can be associated with the loosening of disability requirements, but there is also a significant amount of fraud cases. “The number of SSDI beneficiaries jumped from 4.3 million in 1990 to 6.7. million in …show more content…

If the initial application process was more thorough, this may reduce the amount of appeals. There are too many chances to appeal. “Individuals with questionable claims of disability have up to five tries at receiving benefits and they just have to succeed once” (DeHaven). The amount of times an individual has to appeal is unreasonable and extremely costly. Individuals should only be allowed to appeal once. Instead of exhausting time and resources into the appeals process, this energy should be applied to ensure greater quality and consistency of initial

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