Updates from the SSDI Solutions Initiative

I wanted to make sure that you were aware of two recent developments related to the work put forth by the McCrery-Pomeroy SSDI Solutions Initiative.

Last week Senators Cotton (R-AR) and Lee (R-UT) announced legislation aimed at improving and prolonging the life of the SSDI program based on the recommendations put forth by Kim Hildred, Pamela Mazerski, Harold Krent, and Jennifer Christian in the recently published SSDI Solutions: Ideas to Strengthen the Social Security Disability Insurance Program. This legislation, among other things, would expand Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs), change the benefit structure for medical improvement expected and medical improvement likely recipients, and establish a demonstration project to encourage work and allow for increased earnings for time-limited beneficiaries. You can read more about the legislation here and see our analysis and commentary here. The SSDI Solutions Initiative chapter this legislation is based on is available in its entirety here. 

In another development, authors Yonatan Ben-Shalom, David Mann, and David Stapleton of the Mathematica Policy Research Center for Studying Disability Policy recently published a policy brief further examining the ideas put forth in their chapter for the SSDI Solutions Initiative about the need to modernize early intervention programs and other improvements to the way in which people enter into the SSDI program. You can read more about this brief and other work by the authors here. 

We hope that our project will continue to influence the debate in this country over how best to improve the programs for people with disabilities. To learn more, you can visit our website at http://www.SSDISolutions.org and purchase your own copy of SSDI Solutions: Ideas to Strengthen the Social Security Disability Insurance Program on Amazon.