Social Security Disability: Demographic and Economic Characteristics of New Beneficiaries.

The Social Security Disability Insurance SSDI program provides cash benefits to insured workers who cannot work because of disabling health conditions. Benefits are based on the work history and average earnings of the insured worker. Under this program, disability is defined as the inability to engage in substantial gainful activity SGA by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment expected to last at least 12 months or result in death. In calendar year 1986, this program paid over 17.7 billion to 3.9 million disabled workers and their families. The benefits are intended to provide for the material needs of disabled persons and their families and protect them against the expenses of illnesses that otherwise could exhaust their savings. To gain insured status, a person generally must have worked in social security-covered employment for at least 5 of the 10 years preceding disability. To qualify for benefits, a person must not only be unable to perform his or her previous work but also be unable to engage in any other kind of substantial gainful work that exists in the national economy. This report describes the health, employment, and economic conditions of disabled-worker beneficiaries also referred to in this report as disabled workers or disabled beneficiaries.