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proud2BlibKansan

(96,793 posts)
Sun Jan 29, 2012, 11:27 AM Jan 2012

Rural communitives have strongest reliance on disability benefits

WARSAW, MO. -- Around this rural county seat 100 miles southeast of Kansas City, 1 out of every 8 people of working age is home collecting disability checks from the Social Security Administration.

That compares to about 1 in 20 for the Kansas City area — which may sound low, but it’s climbing here, too.

Everywhere, Americans below retirement age are surviving on Social Security disability benefits and, with baby boomers aging in a slow economy, applications are exploding. Each year since the onset of the recession, more than 400,000 have been joining the system’s disability rolls, where they collect a monthly average of about $1,000.

But where are they most apt to collect it? A recent tabulation of data nationwide reveals the highest concentrations of communities subsisting on disability benefits, per capita, to be in historically poor, rural settings.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/28/3397747/disability-rolls-have-a-rural.html#storylink=cpy

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Rural communitives have strongest reliance on disability benefits (Original Post) proud2BlibKansan Jan 2012 OP
i wonder if that is because rural areas tend to have employment that is NMDemDist2 Jan 2012 #1
Older populations Yo_Mama Jan 2012 #2
Also if you are on disability (such as my dad who has military injuries) TBF Jan 2012 #3
That's mentioned in the article. proud2BlibKansan Jan 2012 #4
yes, i read the article AFTER i responded NMDemDist2 Jan 2012 #5

NMDemDist2

(49,313 posts)
1. i wonder if that is because rural areas tend to have employment that is
Sun Jan 29, 2012, 11:38 AM
Jan 2012

inherently more dangerous that your average urban office job

rural areas have more mining, farming, oil field etc etc jobs and they are more liable to cause disabilities at a younger age.

i'd be interested to see a study on that relationship......

Yo_Mama

(8,303 posts)
2. Older populations
Sun Jan 29, 2012, 11:39 AM
Jan 2012

Rural areas tend to have significantly older populations - disability rates increase quite dramatically with age.

TBF

(31,921 posts)
3. Also if you are on disability (such as my dad who has military injuries)
Sun Jan 29, 2012, 11:43 AM
Jan 2012

it is much less expensive to live on a fixed income in a small town. He is in a very small town (less than 2000) but within an hour of a larger city with a great VA hospital.

NMDemDist2

(49,313 posts)
5. yes, i read the article AFTER i responded
Sun Jan 29, 2012, 11:46 AM
Jan 2012

my bad

here in my rural county, these folks work themselves into the grave. if you can work you work til you're in your 70s, mostly in the oil fields or the mines

these men work until they're used up. it's just some get used up faster it seems.

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