Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) provides important, albeit modest, benefits for individuals with medical impairments that are severe and of extended duration who no longer have the ability to support themselves through gainful employment activity. Recent research indicates that SSDI is notably vital to workers who are high-school graduates or less.
The Long Reach of Education: Health, Wealth, and DI Participation, authored by three members of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), listed four primary reasons why there is a greater likelihood that less-educated workers collect SSDI than their college or graduate school counterparts.
The report explores how four factors termed “pathway” variables relate to education – health, wealth, occupation, and employment. The research found that for more than one-third for male participants, and over two-thirds for female, the relationship between education and SSDI participation may be attributed to the correlation of education with health, and of health with receiving SSDI.
Data from the Health and Retirement Study for the years 1992 to 2012 was used by the NBER to explore the corresponding roles for each of these pathway variables. The study further examined how changes over time such as the difference between the health status of those with high school and college/graduate degrees have affected participation in the SSDI program.
The report states that understanding the relationship between education and Social Security Disability Insurance participation is critical to projecting future trends in SSDI participation as the educational attainment of workers approaching traditional retirement age has significantly changed in the forty-year time period from 1972 to 2012:
- The percentages of men approaching retirement age (50 to 62) with less than a high school degree, a high school degree, some college, and more than a college degree were 48, 30, 11, and 12 respectively in 1972.
- The percentages of men approaching retirement age (50 to 62) with less than a high school degree, a high school degree, some college, and more than a college degree were 10, 31, 28, and 31 respectively in 2012.
Taking advantage of the legal services offered by the Sullivan Law Office may be seamless and involve as little friction as possible. Sorting through the extensive list of what is not considered a resource for determining eligibility for SSI is a complicated process. This is just another example of why applicants for benefits need a disability attorney that has a modernized, state-of-the-art legal practice like the Sullivan Law Office, thus allowing our disability clients to have the best chance of filing a disability application and receiving approval for benefits. Contact the Sullivan Law Office today. We offer free consultations, so you have absolutely nothing to lose! We look forward to hearing from you. Call 888-587-0228 or visit us online.
