History of Disability Policy

Over the past few months we have been doing a lot of research into disability policy, and stumbled upon this great summary of its history given by Professor Edward D. Berkowitz from George Washington University. He was giving a statement to the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Social Security of the Committee on Ways and Means on Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income. This was in 2000, but as it is a historical overview it’s still relevant – you can see the full document here.

Social Security Disability Insurance became law in 1956, but was considered by Congress as early as 1936. The social context of the time, financial depression, war, international conflict made it difficult to find a definition of disability which adequately distinguished from ‘unemployed’ and ‘disabled’. The definition selected was: “an impairment of mind or body which continuously renders it impossible for the disabled person to follow any substantial gainful occupation [and is likely to last] the rest of a person’s life.” This was considered to be a fairly tough definition at the time.

The remark made by an actuary in 1938 on Social Security Advisory Council was, “You will have workers like those in the dust bowl area, people who have migrated to California and elsewhere, who perhaps have not worked in a year or two, who will imagine they are disabled.” The question was posed as to how you would distinguish between the severely disabled that matched the above definition, and those who needed some form of rehabilitation or support to re-enter the work market. The actuary went on to say the best course of action would be to have a trained medical professional examine each applicant to decide whether they were considered ‘disabled’. This, he added, would create a program so high in cost, that they wouldn’t even be able to forecast the amount.

What struck me about this section was the relevance it still has today. The worries that actuaries had in 1938 are similar to those we have today. Maybe the actuary back in 1938 would be guilty of ‘over-medicalizing’ the claim, missing the fact that the greatest barrier to return to work is psychological not necessarily medical.

Clearly, the ability for data and analytic models to help with this process was unheard of in 1938, and even probably in 2000 when this piece was written. In 2015, however, we have the ability and the tools to look at claims on a large scale and accurately identify where intervention is needed and where support is needed.

If your organization is sounding more 1938 than 2015, drop us an email, and I’ll explain more about what we can do at The Claim Lab to revolutionize your claims processes.

The Claim Lab  – Email us at  info@claimlab.org