The brief’s key findings are:
- Disability insurance programs, such as Social Security’s SSDI, are designed to provide income yet maintain work incentives.
- Policymakers need to know what design features most effectively balance these twin goals.
- State and local programs can be used to study this question because their eligibility rules and benefits vary widely.
- A simple analysis, using a new dataset available later this fall, suggests that this variation influences disability insurance claiming rates.