Social Security Disability Case Study

Policy History for Social Security Disability

Social Security has been around since 1935 when the Social Security Act was created. Social Security disability insurance was not created as part of social security until 1956. The disability program has seen major resistance from the very beginning, and still has challenges even today. The challenges of the program include determining if an applicant is disabled and trying to keep the costs of the program manageable. Even though these challenges still plague the program to this day, the need for disability benefits far outweighs these challenges.

Problem Identification

Dr. Francis E. Townsend sent a letter in 1933 to the Long Beach Press-Telegram with a proposition that every 60+ year old American be given an amount of $150 form the federal government after he witnessed three elderly women going through trash for food. This letter to a newspaper gathered national attention rather quickly and pushed Congress to do something to help the elderly and unemployed. President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act in August 1935; however, disability was omitted from the act and was not established until two decades later in 1956. (Kearney, 2005/2006)

Disability insurance was omitted from the Social Security Act (H.R. 6000) due to the potential price tag of the program and the fact that determining whether or not an applicant was disabled and could not work would prove to be on the difficult side. At the time the Social Security Act was created, private insurance companies that provided disability insurance were having a hard time turning profits. The policies had liberal definitions of disability and were written by companies that specialized in life insurance, making the policies lack ...

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... in “enabling legislation or other legal directive mandates policy objectives which are clear and consistent or at least provides substantive criteria for resolving goal conflicts.” The social security disability legislation, with its amendments, had clear and consistent policy objectives and the Social Security Administration provided the criteria to resolve the issue of having disabled workers obtain financial assistance.

The social security disability insurance program is an important and much needed program. It is constantly being evaluated, changed, and updated. The Social Security Administration takes great care to ensure applicants are treated with fairness and dignity. No one wants to be told they have a disability that will keep them from working, but if they are told that, they have the benefits from the disability program to help them financially.