Legislation recently introduced by U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-AR) would modernize disability classifications under Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) to incentivize recovered beneficiaries in returning to work.
The SSDI Return to Work Act, H.R. 5409, would direct the Social Security Administration (SSA) commissioner to develop a system to classify SSDI beneficiaries as medical improvement expected, medical improvement likely, medical improvement possible, or medical improvement not expected to help review and confirm eligibility going forward.
“These reforms to SSDI would help keep the program solvent and its benefits available to those who need them,” Hill said. “The goal is to develop effective and innovative projects that will incentivize and assist people that want to get off of the rolls and back to work. SSDI was developed to be a safety net for those who suffer from a permanent, debilitating disability and to provide temporary assistance for those with a recoverable illness or disability while they heal, but today some working-age individuals use it as a welfare and retirement program.”
The likelihood of SSDI beneficiaries re-entering the workforce has been shown to be low. In 2013, 0.4 percent of all beneficiaries were removed from disability rolls because of employment, according to the Congressional Research Service.
U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Mike Lee (R-UT) have introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
“I am pleased to join Sens. Cotton and Lee on this important legislation that will give the Social Security Administration better guidelines to apply an efficient, consistent, and accurate disability determination,” Hill said. “Too many of our federal programs are using outdated metrics to determine eligibility. We need to continue our work in reforming and evolving these programs so that they can remain available for those who rely on them.”
Cotton said that SSDI is a “critical lifeline” for many Americans, but that Congress has failed to act to help those who can recover return to work and leave the program.
“We must act to save this program, but not at the expense of those who truly need it,” Cotton said. “This bill will change nothing for current disability beneficiaries and instead preserves the program by changing Social Security Disability Insurance from a one-size fits all model to a model that takes each individual’s capabilities into account.”
Lee said that it is “incredibly important” for Congress to take action that enables SSDI to be a safety net for those who can return to work, as it was originally intended.
“As it is now, the program’s harmful incentives make it harder for some individuals to begin working again and ultimately exit the program,” Lee said. “This proposal maintains support for disabled individuals while also providing a smooth transition for those who can to return to work.”