Impact of Vocational Rehabilitation Services on the Social Security Disability Insurance Program

GAO discussed vocational rehabilitation (VR) services for beneficiaries of the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Program. GAO found that: (1) the majority of SSDI beneficiaries were either too old for VR services or unlikely candidates due to the nature of their disabilities; (2) in 1986, only 1 percent of the persons who became beneficiaries in 1983 left the benefit rolls to work and less than one-third of those had received VR services; (3) nearly two-thirds of the beneficiaries with VR service obtained them at an agency before receiving benefits; (4) many beneficiaries who completed VR programs either received less income than their SSDI benefits or not enough for them to give up the benefits; (5) most beneficiaries were afraid of losing their Medicare benefits, since they would not be able to replace them with other insurance; (6) although current work incentives were helpful to beneficiaries who were anxious to return to work, they did not induce others to attempt working; (7) more beneficiaries would attempt to work if their benefits were continued on a sliding scale based on earned income; and (8) although Congress directed the Social Security Administration (SSA) to experiment with a reduced benefit plan, it has not done so to date. GAO believes that SSA should determine whether providing benefits on a sliding scale would reduce SSDI costs.