ABSTRACT
The Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program has experienced significant growth in the past decade. This trend reflects substantial growth in both the number of beneficiaries as well as the amount of disability payments. A prime factor behind this trend is the alarmingly small fraction of DI beneficiaries that return to work. For example, by 1993, for every 200 individuals added to the DI rolls, only one person was being successfully rehabilitated. This fact raises obvious doubts about the efficacy of federal return-to-work programs serving persons with disabilities. Indeed, the two most recent studies by the General Accounting Office (GAO 1993; GAO 1987) have clearly questioned the effectiveness of public sector Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) in general, and in regard to the rehabilitation of DI beneficiaries in particular.
