Cumulative Disadvantage

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI) programs are designed to provide a safety net after disability onset. Yet applying for benefits is a lengthy, complex process. If granted, SSI benefits include Medicaid eligibility; SSDI recipients are eligible for Medicare, but with a 24-month waiting period. Applicants who lack a source of health insurance while they wait may experience deteriorating health and financial insecurity, compounding economic and health disparities that preceded the disability.

This study, led by Na Yin (CUNY Institute for Demographic Research), examines how health insurance and financial security change from before disability application to the months and years after application or rejection, and how health insurance is associated with health and out-of-pocket medical costs. We aim to learn the ways in which SSDI and SSI, in concert with programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, may address the trajectory of cumulative disadvantage faced by many middle-aged and older Americans. The research will generate recommendations for how the Social Security Administration can strengthen its programs to better target those most in need of help.

This project is funded by the Social Security Administration (SSA) through the New York Retirement and Disability Research Center (NY-RDRC), which is part of the SSA’s Retirement and Disability Research Consortium. The NY-RDRC, led by Na Yin, Ruth Finkelstein, and Teresa Ghilarducci, is a collaboration of the CUNY Institute for Demographic Research at Baruch College, the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging, and the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at The New School.