"Social Security disability on verge of insolvency" : A/P

[WinkyDink]

Applications are up nearly 50 percent over a decade ago as people with disabilities lose their jobs and can't find new ones in an economy that has shed nearly 7 million jobs.

The stampede for benefits is adding to a growing backlog of applicants — many wait two years or more before their cases are resolved — and worsening the financial problems of a program that's been running in the red for years.

New congressional estimates say the trust fund that supports Social Security disability will run out of money by 2017, leaving the program unable to pay full benefits, unless Congress acts. About two decades later, Social Security's much larger retirement fund is projected to run dry as well.

http://news.yahoo.com/social-security-disability-verge-insolvency-090119318.html

[KamaAina]

1. Whoa! We have a *separate* fund?!

:scared:

Then again, most people on SSDI want to work, but can't, because they'd lose not only the benefits themselves but their Medicaid eligibility, without which they, um, couldn't work. It's the best there is, that Catch-22. :eyes:

[eleny]

2. Years until their applications are resolved...

And then they're owed benefits back to the date of application. $$$