U.S. disability system is failing, says professor in new book

Burkhauser

Richard V. Burkhauser, the Sarah Gibson Blanding Professor of Policy Analysis in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell, has co-authored a new book, "The Declining Work and Welfare of People with Disabilities: What Went Wrong and a Strategy for Change" (AEI Press).

"We argue that the U.S. disability system is failing -- growing at an unsustainable pace for taxpayers and delivering relatively poor outcomes to those with disabilities," says Burkhauser.

The 168-page book contends that these outcomes are not the inevitable results of demographic or health changes, but rather the unintended consequences of changes to two public programs designed to assist those with disabilities: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Burkhauser says.

Drawing on lessons from two recent policy initiatives -- the reform of U.S. welfare policy and the reform of Dutch disability policy -- and analyzing how public insurance and welfare program incentives affect behavior, Burkhauser and co-author Mary C. Daly argue for fundamental changes in the way disability is insured and managed. In keeping with the Americans with Disabilities Act’s philosophy of encouraging people with disabilities to remain in the workforce, the authors recommend changes in SSDI and SSI that make work, rather than benefits, the primary goal of federal disability policy.

"If implemented, these changes will both bend the future cost curves for these programs and increase the employment, income and independence of working-age people with disabilities," Burkhauser says.

Burkhauser’s research focuses on how public policies affect the economic behavior and well-being of such vulnerable populations as older persons, people with disabilities and low-income households. He has published widely on these topics in journals of demography, economics and gerontology as well as public policy. Burkhauser is immediate past president of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.