Social Security Disability and Workers Comp Study
Does Workers Compensation have an effect on Social Security Disability? More precisely, do Social Security Disability applications increase when WC payments decrease?
This was pointed out in the Work Comp Analysis group on LinkedIn today. In reading over the study, I was at first very skeptical.
The authors of the study used historical data to prove that when states toughen their Workers Compensation laws, especially amount and duration of benefits, this causes injured employees to seek out other benefits.
The link to the study is in PDF document. You may want to at least skim through the study and formulate your own opinion.
There were a few responses that acknowledged the dumping of WC claimants onto federal benefits as a way to lessen risk. I would have to agree this has and does happen in workers compensation. Then, again the Workers Compensation Medicare Set Asides (WCMSA) enforcement was a method for the federal government to recoup some of those costs.
This study in 2012 seemed to disagree with the study authors’ conclusion as was acknowledged as a differing opinion in the study itself. I give the authors credit as most authors do not include differing opinions.
Workers Comp does affect Social Security in the area of offsets. Social Security Disability payments have a Workers Comp offset in most cases. One has to wonder if in one of these studies an author may consult with someone that understands workers comp such as a risk manager?
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