Another Place at the Table by Kathy Harrison

Using its own administrative data, the Social Security Administration ( SSA) publishes statistics on beneficiaries' disabling impairments in several publications, including the Annual Statistical Report on the Social Security Disability Insurance Program and the SSI Annual Statistical Report. To receive Social Security Disability Insurance ( DI) or Supplemental Security Income ( SSI) benefits, applicants must prove that they have a significant and long-lasting disability that makes them unable to work. Although the administrative data are complete for their purpose, we find that they may underrepresent the totality of disability that beneficiaries experience, and thus may be less predictive of employment and other outcomes than survey data. Administrative data record fewer impairments per beneficiary and do not necessarily reflect the condition(s) that the beneficiary considers most limiting.

Beneficiaries with multiple self-reported impairments also tend to be older and to have higher household incomes than those with one impairment, and are less likely to have work-related goals and expectations. We find that most beneficiaries report conditions in more than one impairment category, and that beneficiaries with multiple impairments tend to have more activity limitations and poorer health than those reporting one impairment. We use data from the Social Security Administration's National Beneficiary Survey and agency administrative records to estimate the number and examine the characteristics of adult disability-program beneficiaries with multiple impairments.

Another Place at the Table by Kathy Harrison