Two quotes from the article say volumes:
1. “Disability insurance has become more like permanent unemployment insurance or a general welfare program,” notes Tad DeHaven of the Cato Institute.
2. And it’s dampening economic growth, because those who go on SSDI almost ever rejoin the workforce, thereby shrinking the available pool of labor.
Volunteering as a triage interviewer at a local food/clothing bank, I speak with these folks all the time. SSDI has become the new welfare. If you can get on, entirely too easy if you’ve got a slick lawyer, it’s a monthly check for life. But the monthly checks don’t amount to much: around $721 for most folks I see.
$721 sounds like S.S.I., instead of S.S.D.I., S.S.D.I. is based on how much a worker has paid in, while S.S.I. is based on nothing at all. S.S.I. recipients need never have paid in a dime to S.S.