I just wanted to respond to the article posted on SS running out of money. (Please see http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/0...the-year-2525/) which states SS has until the year 2525 until it runs out of money. That's 514 years from now. The dire predictions are because the government has heavily borrowed from SS funds.
The SSA has recently released the 2010 statitics.
Applications are up 5% from last year (basically from an aging population which has been projected for years as baby boomers age). The average age is 52.7 years.
Acceptance and denial rates are about the same as last year, 35% accepted, 65% denied. And who says SSA doesn't have quotas? Wanna bet they track the acceptance rates by worker?
On the appeals side, the lasted data is 2009 which reports that average awards for all appeal levels is 34.5%. Techical denials were 38% and medical denials were 27% on the appeal level. A techicaal denial means that a person is not eligible or their is an error on the application. According to ultimate disability guide.com reconsideration(first appeal) approval rate is 13%, hearing level (second appeal) is 62% and appeals council is 26%. At the federal court level only 4% are approved.
One statistic that really concerns me are the reasons for acceptance. A whopping 46.9% were a combination of medical and vocational factors. In the 2010 application, the applicant is not given an ooportunity to explain how their disability effects their work activities and duties (vocational factors), 31.5& meet seveirty test and 6.9 equal severity test.
The awards for types of disabilities are as follows: musculoskeletal 32.5%, mental & mood disorders 32.3%. This is a change from the last time I looked when mental disabilities were in the lead with over 33%.
Another statistic that as a feminist still bothers me is the average monthly benefit amount difference between men and women. Men recieve an average of $!,291.90 while womwn only receive $971.80. This is further evidence that men still make more than women. Oddly, 11% more men receive disability benfits. Hmmmmmmmmm.
Hope some of you find these statistics interesting.
Respectfully, Trudi