27:T430,

Efforts by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to help beneficiaries of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) return to work have had limited success. The Early Intervention project represents the first initiative by SSA in which SSDI applicants will be provided temporary inducements and return-to-work services. Inducements will include a 1-year cash stipend and public health insurance for 3 years. Early Intervention is expected to be successful because it will focus on SSDI applicants who have not been detached from the labor force as long as persons already receiving benefits. The magnitude of this success, however, will depend on (a) the ability to screen for applicants who are likely to become SSDI beneficiaries and to go back to work and (b) the provision of adequate inducements and services. As the first return-to-work initiative targeted at SSDI applicants, the Early Intervention project is expected to provide valuable information to policymakers, researchers, and other interest groups.

28:T4ee,

Less than one half of 1% of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries currently return to work. The 1999 Ticket-to-Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act (TWWIIA) charged the Social Security Administration with investigating early intervention strategies to divert some of the persons applying for benefits into work support programs before they enroll in SSDI. Any early intervention programming will require greater understanding of the claimant population. This analysis used data from the 1994 and 1995 National Health Interview Surveys to compare the estimated 3.3 million working-age SSDI claimants to the estimated 3.6 million beneficiaries. These comparisons showed substantial heterogeneity in both groups but found that claimants were less disabled, in better health, and more likely to be employed than beneficiaries. Both groups tended to have low incomes, and nearly 20% of claimants lacked health insurance. Approximately 70% of applicants (2.3 million) and beneficiaries (2.6 million) have not received vocational support services and do not believe that they need such services. These findings suggest that demand for vocational services vouchers may be low.