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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Disability statistics are Amazing

www.disabilitycanhappen.org


Disability statistics

It happens more often than you'd imagine:

  • Just over 1 in 4 of today's 20 year-olds will become disabled before they retire.1
  • Over 36 million Americans are classified as disabled; about 12% of the total population. More than 50% of those disabled Americans are in their working years, from 18-64.2
  • 8.3 million disabled wage earners, over 5% of U.S. workers, were receiving Social Security Disability (SSDI) benefits at the conclusion of March, 2011. 3
  • In December of 2010, there were over 2.5 million disabled workers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s receiving SSDI benefits. 3

Chances of becoming disabled:

The following statistics come from CDA’s PDQ disability risk calculator:4
  • A typical female, age 35, 5’4", 125 pounds, non-smoker, who works mostly an office job, with some outdoor physical responsibilities, and who leads a healthy lifestyle has the following risks:
    • A 24% chance of becoming disabled for 3 months or longer during her working career;
      • with a 38% chance that the disability would last 5 years or longer,
      • and with the average disability for someone like her lasting 82 months.
    • If this same person used tobacco and weighed 160 pounds, the risk would increase to a 41% chance of becoming disabled for 3 months or longer.
  • A typical male, age 35, 5’10", 170 pounds, non-smoker, who works an office job, with some outdoor physical responsibilities, and who leads a healthy lifestyle has the following risks:
    • A 21% chance of becoming disabled for 3 months or longer during his working career;
      • with a 38% chance that the disability would last 5 years or longer,
      • and with the average disability for someone like him lasting 82 months.
    • If this same person used tobacco and weighed 210 pounds, the risk would increase to a 45% chance of becoming disabled for 3 months or longer.

A sample of factors that increase the risk of disability: Excess body weight, tobacco use, high risk activities or behaviors, chronic conditions such as; diabetes, high blood pressure, back pain, anxiety or depression, frequent alcohol consumption or substance abuse.

A sample of factors that decrease the risk of disability: Maintaining a healthy body weight, no tobacco use, healthy diet and sleep habits, regular exercise, moderate to no alcohol consumption, avoidance of high risk behaviors including substance abuse, maintaining a healthy stress level, and effective treatment of chronic health conditions.

To calculate your own Personal Disability Quotient, go to:
http://www.disabilitycanhappen.org/chances_disability/pdq.asp.

To learn more about risk factors and ways to help reduce your risk, go to:
http://www.disabilitycanhappen.org/reducing_chances

Disability prevents people from earning a living:

  • New Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) applications increased 21% from 2.3 million in 2008 to 2.8 million in 2009. Two major drivers of this significant increase were the poor economy/high unemployment rate and the aging of America’s working population.3
  • 61% of surveyed wage earners personally know someone who has been disabled and unable to work for 3 months or longer.5
  • The average long-term disability claim duration is 31.2 months.6
  • More than one in five workers will be disabled for 5 years or more during their working careers7

Working Americans underestimate their risk of disability:

  • 64% of wage earners believe they have a 2% or less chance of being disabled for 3 months or more during their working career.5 The actual odds for a worker entering the workforce today are about 30%.1
  • Most working Americans estimate that their own chances of experiencing a long term disability are substantially lower than the average worker’s.5

Disability causes severe financial hardship:

  • 90% of wage earners rated their "ability to earn an income" as "valuable" or "very valuable" in helping them achieve long-term financial security — wage earners perceive their ability to earn an income as even more valuable than retirement savings, medical insurance, personal possessions, other forms of savings or their homes.5
  • Medical problems contributed to 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007, a 49.6% increase over results from a similar 2001 study.8
  • It is estimated that medical problems contributed to more than 500,000 personal bankruptcy filings in 2007.9
  • Personal bankruptcy filings increased 32% from 2008-2009, 31% between 2007- 2008, and 38% from 2006-2007.2
  • Medical problems contributed to half of all home foreclosure filings in 2006.10

Common causes of disability:

  • According to CDA's 2011 Long-Term Disability Claims Review11, the following are the leading causes of new disability claims in 2010:
    • Musculoskeletal/connective tissue disorders caused 27.5% of new claims.*
    • Cancer was the 2nd leading cause of new disability claims at 14.6%
    • Injuries and Poisoning caused 10.3% of new claims
    • Cardiovascular/circulatory disorders caused 9.1% of new claims
    • Nervous System-Related disorders caused 9.1% of new claims.
  • Cancer claims were lower as a percentage of new disability claims in 2010, although cancer remains the second leading cause of new disability claims and the fourth leading cause of ongoing claims.
  • The most common causes of existing disability claims in 2010 included: diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (30.1% of all existing claims), diseases of the nervous system and sense organs (13.4%), diseases of the circulatory system (12.7%) and cancer (8.4%).
  • Approximately 95% of disabilities are caused by illnesses rather than accidents.

* This category includes claims caused by neck and back pain; joint, muscle and tendon disorders; foot, ankle and hand disorders, etc.

Few American workers are financially prepared:

How long could you afford to be without a paycheck?
  • Do you spend more than you earn? 44% of U.S. families do.12
  • Do you have private pension coverage? Most of us - over 50% - don't.1
  • Retirement savings? One-third of us have none.1
  • 60% of adult Americans have NO savings earmarked for emergencies.13
  • 71% of Americans would find it very difficult or somewhat difficult to meet their current financial obligations if their next paycheck were delayed for one week.14
  • 65% of working Americans say they could not cover normal living expenses even for a year if their employment income was lost; 38% could not pay their bills for more than 3 months.5
  • Nearly nine in ten workers (86%) surveyed believe that people should plan in their 20’s or 30’s in case an income limiting disability should occur;
    • Only half (50%) of all workers have actually planned for this possibility.
    • Fewer than half (46%) have even discussed disability planning.15

Most American workers’ incomes are not protected:

  • About 100 million workers are without private disability income insurance.1
  • 67% of workers in the private sector have no long-term disability insurance.1

Think Social Security or Workers' Compensation will cover it?

Better do your homework:
  • 65% of initial SSDI claim applications were denied in 2009.3
  • Can your family live on $1,065 a month? That's the average monthly benefit paid by Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) in June of 2010. 8% of SSDI recipients received less than $500 monthly. 52% received less than $1,000 per month. 97% received less than $2,000 per month.3
  • The average SSDI monthly benefit payment was $1,190 for males, and $928 for females.3
  • Less than 5% of disabling accidents and illnesses are work related. The other 95% are not, meaning Workers’ Compensation doesn’t cover them.11

4 comments:

Moira said...

Wow Megs, this is great! Out of curiosity, on avg. what is the estimated cost of care after someone is deemed disabled (as far a home healthcare etc...)?

Moira

Paulette said...

Hey Moira it's Megan's mom

Home health care is expensive... Depending upon your insurer your cost may vary: Medicaid vs. Private Insurance... Home health aids ($10-$30 per hour), LPNs ($15-$40 per hour) and RN's ( $25-$55 per hour) these are the common professionals who work in the field. However government program do not cover RN's hourly wages in long term care/ home health- if the patients need exceed a certain care level it starts out of pocket expenses

Phil Dzialo said...

Welcome to the disability community blogging world. I had the honor to meet Ian and your mom in Montreal at ABR evaluations.
Public Health Policy and Disability is a crucial issue in the USA and I am happy that young people are taking a very seriously look at the issues. AS you may be aware, the USA ranks near the bottom of the world in terms of social justice which is a stain on our country. Check out the stats on my blog post:

http://healingandempowerment.blogspot.com/2011/10/social-justice-usa-nearthe-bottom-of.html

Hopefully, you may also get some resources from my blog and blog lists as I contact people throughout the world. It's an exciting place to be and study. Best of success!

Unknown said...

Thanks Phil I appreciate the warm welcome. My mom told me lots about the ABR evaluations and her experiences there. I have visited the blog you have for your son and it is very resourceful to say the least. Take care and I wish your family continued success!