Suchergebnisse

Intro -- VETERANS' DISABILITY BENEFITS CHALLENGES TO TIMELY PROCESSING AND IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS -- VETERANS' DISABILITY BENEFITS CHALLENGES TO TIMELY PROCESSING AND IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- Chapter 1 VETERANS' DISABILITY BENEFITS TIMELY PROCESSING REMAINS A DAUNTING CHALLENGE -- ABBREVIATIONS -- WHY GAO DID THIS STUDY -- WHAT GAO RECOMMENDS -- WHAT GAO FOUND -- BACKGROUND -- Disability Claims Process -- Appeals Process -- VA's Duty to Assist Requirements -- Timeliness of Claims and Appeals Processing -- RISING WORKLOADS, ALONG WITH PROGRAM RULES AND INEFFICIENT PROCESSES, CONTRIBUTE TO LENGTHY PROCESSING TIME FRAMES -- Rise in Claims Submitted Is Outpacing Claims Production -- Program Requirements Contribute to Long Processing Times -- Gathering Records from Federal Agencies and Others Can Take Months -- Some Work Processes Are Inefficient -- VBA IS TAKING STEPS TO IMPROVE CLAIMS AND APPEALS PROCESSING, BUT FUTURE IMPACT IS UNCERTAIN -- VBA Is Using Existing VBA Staff and Contractors to Manage Its Growing Workloads -- VBA Is Changing Procedures and Modifying Requirements to Expedite Claims and Appeals Processing -- Efforts to Improve Records Acquisition Have Produced Mixed Results -- Efforts to Redesign Key Aspects of the Process Are Under Way without a Comprehensive Plan -- CONCLUSION -- RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EXECUTIVE ACTION -- AGENCY COMMENTS AND OUR EVALUATION -- APPENDIX I: OBJECTIVES, SCOPE, AND METHODOLOGY -- ANALYSIS OF VBA CLAIMS AND APPEALS PROCESSING TIMELINESS AND RESOURCE DATA -- SELECTION OF VA REGIONAL OFFICES FOR REVIEW -- APPENDIX II: VETERAN NOTIFICATION DURING THE CLAIMS AND APPEALS PROCESSES -- APPENDIX III: SELECTED VBA EFFORTS TO IMPROVE CLAIMS AND APPEALS TIMELINESS -- End Notes -- End Note for Appendix I -- End Note for Appendix I

This report discusses about the Federal disability benefit programs that are primarily intended to provide a measure of income security to persons with disabilities by replacing some of the income lost due to their inability to work.

AbstractThis article takes a long‐view of the huge rise in disability claimant numbers in the UK since the early 1980s and looks ahead to the trends that can now be expected to emerge in an era of fiscal austerity and welfare reform. The article's central thesis is that disability numbers are best understood as part of a triangular relationship between levels of employment, unemployment and sickness. In particular, the big decline of industrial employment in many places has often resulted in large‐scale 'hidden unemployment' on disability benefits, especially among low‐skilled workers. Looking ahead, the UK's welfare reforms are set to reduce disability claimant numbers but principally by restricting access to Employment and Support Allowance, the new disability benefit. The main effect will be to divert substantial numbers of men and women with ill health or disability onto unemployment benefits instead or, more often, out of the benefits system altogether.

We estimate racial differences in the Social Security Administration's (SSA) decision to award federal disability benefits using newly available data, multivariate econometric models, and Oaxaca decomposition methods. We focus on the appellate level of SSA's disability decision‐making process. We find that for claimants represented by attorneys
there is no statistically significant difference in benefit award rates between whites and African‐Americans. However, for claimants without attorney representation, we find sizable and significant differences between whites and African‐Americans. (JEL J15, H53)

This cost-effective approach to funding long-term disability benefits may be the answer for employers who find their current method of funding such benefits through voluntary employees' beneficiary associations restricted by federal law.

Abstract

Abstract
This introduction offers a context for the articles in this thematic series by providing an overview of the programs that provide cash and in-kind supports to people with disabilities in the United States, summarizes the increasing reliance on these programs, and describes the challenges associated with reducing dependency on these programs. It then briefly discusses the articles in this thematic series in light of these issues.


JEL codes
H5, I3, J2, J14

This book aims to tackle the issues that are central to understanding and addressing one of the most important employment policy problems facing governments in the UK and beyond: the high number of people of working age claiming 'disability' or 'incapacity' benefits.

This book aims to tackle the issues that are central to understanding and addressing one of the most important employment policy problems facing governments in the UK and beyond: the high number of people of working age claiming 'disability' or 'incapacity' benefits. Gathering evidence from leading UK scholars, alongside comparative contributions on Sweden, Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands, the book considers a number of questions including, how do health problems and other barriers work to combine to limit opportunities for labour market participation among claimants of IBs?; How do different local and regional economic conditions shape these individuals' opportunities and experiences of labour market exclusion?; What processes lead to transitions onto IBs and what could be done to retain people with health problems in employment?; How appropriate are the rationale, content and governance of active labour market policies that seek to promote transitions from IBs into work?; and what works in helping people claiming IBs to cope with health problems and/or make progress towards work?