A bill that would put limits on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) for those who are deemed able to return to work was introduced in the Senate by U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Mike Lee (R-UT).
The Return to Work Act requires disability determiners to classify new beneficiaries based on whether medical improvement is expected. Beneficiaries who are expected to recover would be given a timeline and additional resources to obtain employment while on SSDI. These beneficiaries also will be able to re-apply if they have not recovered. Beneficiaries who are not expected to recover will have no timeline for program participation.
The bill’s sponsors say it is a necessary step to preserve Social Security.
“Social Security Disability Insurance is supposed to be a safety net for people with disabilities,” Rubio said. “However, rampant abuse, lax enforcement and insufficient accountability have enabled this program to grow unchecked and prevented many people from going back to work. The health of our national economy and strength of our communities depend on able-bodied Americans earning paychecks. This legislation represents a long overdue reform that takes care of working Americans and saves our social safety net for the truly disabled.”
The SSDI program has grown from $20 billion to about $137 billion since 1970. At the same time, the number of beneficiaries who leave the program to return to work has dropped from nearly 6 percent in 1982 to less than one half of 1 percent today.
“We shouldn’t resign people with treatable conditions to a lifetime of sitting on the sidelines. If they can get back to work, then by all means we should help them,” Cotton said. “That’s why we’ve got to fix this program so it takes into account people’s different capabilities. This will not only save the program, which is dangerously close to going bankrupt; It will save our aid for the people who need it most.”
U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-AR) introduced the companion bill in the House.
“We can’t keep stealing from the Social Security Trust Fund to bail out the Social Security Disability Insurance system,” Lee said. “We need real reforms that will both make it easier for recovering Americans to return to work and make the program solvent.”