Every once in awhile I need to give a shout out to the Social Security Administration (SSA). Despite the generally dismal experience at the Field Offices and the overemphasis on fraud to the exclusion of emphasizing helping desperate folks, sometimes SSA does something right.
Their new campaign – The Faces and Facts of Disability – does a good job of sharing the truth about folks who apply.
Some key takeaway messages:
1. Social Security disability insurance is coverage that workers earn.
2. The Social Security Security Act defines disability very strictly. As a result, Social Security disability beneficiaries are more than three times as likely to die in a year as other people the same age. Among those who start receiving disability benefits at the age of 55, 1-in-5 men and 1-in-7 women die within five years of the onset of their disabilities.
3. Disability is unpredictable; it can happen to anyone
4. The amount of money disability recipients get is very modest, barely enough to keep a beneficiary above the 2013 poverty level.
Take a look at The Faces and Facts of Disability