Mandatory Spending

Function 650 - Social Security

Require Social Security Disability Insurance Applicants to Have Worked More in Recent Years

CBO periodically issues a compendium of policy options (called Options for Reducing the Deficit) covering a broad range of issues, as well as separate reports that include options for changing federal tax and spending policies in particular areas. This option appears in one of those publications. The options are derived from many sources and reflect a range of possibilities. For each option, CBO presents an estimate of its effects on the budget but makes no recommendations. Inclusion or exclusion of any particular option does not imply an endorsement or rejection by CBO.

Billions of dollars 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2015-2019 2015-2024
Change in Outlays 0 -0.5 -1.2 -2.0 -2.8 -3.5 -4.4 -5.2 -6.0 -6.9 -6.4 -32.4

Note: This option would take effect in January 2016. Estimates are relative to CBO’s August 2014 baseline projections.

To be eligible for benefits under Social Security Disability Insurance (DI), disabled workers must generally have worked 5 out of the past 10 years. This option would raise that threshold for recent work by requiring disabled workers older than 30 to have worked 4 of the past 6 years. The savings estimated for this option do not include any effects of this option on spending for other federal programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.