Residents of Frederick who have applied or will be applying for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits are probably aware of the rise in Social Security applications and the increased difficulty to receive approval for benefits.

Since the early 1970s, the number of people benefitting from Social Security Disability Insurance has quadrupled. One driving factor for this is the improvements in medical technology in America. Beneficiaries are living longer now than they were at the outset of these benefits in the 1950s.

In addition to medical improvements, the increase in beneficiaries is also due to the growing number of claims being awarded to victims of mental illnesses and pain. Today these account for more than 50 percent of the claims awarded. A generation ago the most common claims were due to cancer and heart disease, which now account for only 20 percent of the claims awarded.

Nationally, about 4.6 percent of the population is still of working age but disabled. This is a significant increase from the 2.5 percent in the 1980s.

Social Security disability claim applications are most likely to come from poor, rural communities. This is largely because these communities are located in areas where mining and manual labor dominated regional industry and access to education and medical care is limited.

In addition to this increase in applications for Social Security disability benefits from people with legitimate medical conditions, there are also individuals who are not disabled but who try to trick the system by filing fraudulent claims.

The combination of the explosion in the number of disabled Americans at working age, aging baby boomers focused on the retirement side of Social Security, and those trying to trick the system has made it difficult for individuals in need of disability benefits to have their claims approved.

The system is clogged with an abundance of applications, many of which are denied on the first round. In some cases, undeserving applicants are ruthless in their continued applications while others truly in need of benefits lose hope and give up.

Many expect this trend of increasing applications and the laborious process to gain claim approval to get worse before it gets better.

Source: The Kansas City Star, "Rural communities have strongest reliance on disability benefits," Rick Montgomery, January 29, 2012