In 2006, the World Institute on Disability (WID) put forward a variety of policy proposals to improve the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) system, aimed at ensuring that people with disabilities have the opportunity to fully participate in the workforce and be economically self-sufficient. A central proposal that came out of this project is the creation of a work support and supplemental income insurance program that would help to decrease attachment to the SSDI system and increase attachments to the workforce.In 2010, the Center for American Progress (CAP) and The Hamilton Project (THP) jointly released a paper outlining a similar policy proposal, with key differences in approach. What follows is WID’s response to the CAP/THP paper, written with the intention of furthering the public discussion on this important issue.
BACKGROUND
Over the past three decades, the World Institute on Disability (WID) has been a thought leader on how to provide better work supports for people with disabilities.i In 2006, WID led a collaborative project, funded by the JP Morgan Chase Foundation and The California Endowment. The project began with a series of policy discussions with social insurance and tax policy analysts, which developed into a set of policy proposals to transform Social Security, Medicare, and disability tax law. The proposals were documented in “Being American: the Way Out of Poverty,” by Bryon R. MacDonald and Megan O’Neil.In December of 2010, the Center for American Progress (CAP) and The Hamilton Project (THP) jointly released a paper entitled “Supporting Work: A Proposal for Modernizing the U.S. Disability Insurance System,” by David H. Autor and Mark Duggan.
WID would like to commend the CAP/THP report for its role in continuing this important public discussion on the need to reform the U.S. disability insurance system and to strengthen the connections between people with disabilities and the workforce.
The never ending story of work incentives.....