CRS Issue Statement on Disability Benefits Page: 3 of 7
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CRS Issue Statement on Disability Benefits
before getting a decision from an Administrative Law Judge. The Social Security Administration
(SSA) has taken administrative steps to address the lengthy application and appeals processes for
these programs and the large backlog of applicants waiting for benefits decisions and now
projects that processing times and backlogs will be reduced to acceptable levels by 2013.
However, the increase in program applications due to the economic downturn may strain the
agency's ability to process applications and appeals and meet this goal.
The current economic downturn has been accompanied by increased participation in the SSI and
SSDI programs. Given that the administrative resources of these programs were already strained,
it is likely that Congress may need to address the impact of additional applicants on the SSA's
ability to serve the public and its beneficiaries. Increased participation in the SSDI program will
also affect the Medicare program and the DI trust fund as SSDI beneficiaries are entitled to
Medicare after a two-year waiting period. Increased SSI applications and enrollment will affect
general revenue used to pay SSI benefits and administrative costs as well as costs for the
Medicaid program that serves nearly all SSI recipients. States with their own budget shortfalls
have also experienced increased difficulties in providing state supplements to SSI recipients. Last
year in California, for example, changes to the state supplement led to a decrease in monthly
benefits for many in the SSI program. State furloughs of disability determination services
employees have slowed the processing of new program applications and continuing disability
reviews and Congress, the SSA, and the White House have expressed concern over state actions
in this area.
The economic downturn has caused the Consumer Price Index to drop resulting in no cost of
living adjustment (COLA) to SSDI, SSI, or veterans benefits. The White House and the SSA have
called on Congress to create a special one-time economic recovery payment, modeled on the
economic recovery payment provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, for
all Social Security and SSI beneficiaries as well as veterans disability beneficiaries. Congress will
have to decide the amount of any such payment, how it will be administered, and what specific
beneficiary groups, such as children and beneficiaries in the U.S. territories, will be eligible for
these payments.
Benefits for military service members and veterans with disabilities comprise another major part
of federal disability policy. Current military operations have brought increased scrutiny on the
treatment of disability by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA). In part because they require two separate physical evaluations, the existing
disability evaluation processes administered by the DOD and the VA for separating disabled
military service members have been characterized as wasteful, time-consuming and confusing.
Some have also argued that the definitions and determinations of disability used by the Social
Security and veterans disability programs should be more closely aligned so that persons eligible
for one program are more likely to be eligible for another, despite the fact that these two sets of
programs have different goals.
While American military forces are transitioning out of Iraq, civilian federal employees and
contractors are likely to remain for some time and there will be a "civilian surge" as part of
President Obama's new Afghanistan strategy. This continued use of civilian federal employees
and contractors in support of military and other operations abroad had raised concerns over the
adequacy of the federal workers' compensation programs that provide disability benefits to
civilian government employees and contractors working with the military. The Federal Employee
Compensation Act (FECA) program was designed to provide traditional workers' compensation
benefits to federal employees working in traditional settings in the United States, but now is beingCongressional Research Service
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Szymendera, Scott. CRS Issue Statement on Disability Benefits, report, January 15, 2010; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc820931/m1/3/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.