More MS news articles for Jan 2002

Disability Rules Discourage Self-Reliance

http://www.ncpa.org/iss/sos/2002/pd011802d.html

Friday, January 18, 2002
Daily Policy Digest
Social Security Issues / Social Security Disability

Social Security disability rules prohibit beneficiaries from earning more than $500 a month without losing their benefits. Critics contend this policy penalizes those who try to re-enter the workforce -- while putting those who already qualify as disabled under no obligation ever to try to return to work.

Social Security allows beneficiaries who want to return to work to collect a salary for a year before they lose their disability checks.
But the checks disappear entirely if earnings exceed an annual salary that averages out to less than minimum wage.
While Social Security provides vocational rehabilitation to those who might be retrained to be productive again, rehab is not mandatory and no one with a certified disability can be forced to try something new.
Because of those and other policies, less than 1 percent of disability recipients rejoin the workforce each year.

Source: Editorial, "Self-Sufficiency Punished," USA Today, January 17, 2002.

For text
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020117/3778566s.htm

For more on Social Security Disability
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/sos/