Agency: Outdated rules keep disabled out of work
WASHINGTON -- Federal rules used to determine who's disabled are nearly 50 years old and need to be updated to reflect economic, medical, and technological advances, a government panel says.
Many Americans with disabilities are willing and able to work but remain thwarted from seeking jobs by Social Security Administration guidelines that discourage economic independence, according to the National Council on Disability report being released today.
Applicants for disability insurance must prove a complete inability to engage in ''substantial gainful activity," according to rules adopted in 1956. About 6.5 million people received disability benefits in 2002, according to the latest available data.
''Our nation's current disability benefit programs are based on a policy principle that assumes that the presence of a significant disability and lack of substantial earnings equate with a complete inability to work," Lex Frieden, council chairman, wrote President Bush in submitting the report, which assesses efforts to promote employment among the disabled.
Also, federal efforts to make it easier for the disabled to work have had little effect since few people are aware of the incentives and how they affect access to benefits and healthcare, the report found. And the months and years it can take beneficiaries to convince Social Security that they are disabled can leave them leery of enrolling in any employment or training program that might jeopardize their benefits, it said.
''We will be looking carefully at the recommendations," said Mark Lassiter, Social Security Administration spokesman.
Congress and the agency have made it easier for Americans who collect disability to make more while retaining their benefits, according to the council. However, less than half of one percent of those receiving either supplemental security income or disability insurance ever leave the rolls to seek work, the council said, citing Social Security and General Accounting Office reports.
