Baby Boomers in Your Practice Can Raise Disability Claims Frequency
After the summer jobless claims numbers came out, politicians and pundits alike complained that job creation over the past few years has been smaller than the increase in Social Security disability recipients. A July 2012 report from the Congressional Budget Office gives some insights into the disability numbers and why the number of disability claims is rising so rapidly.
What the CBO found gives yet another reason why medical and dental professionals need to add disability insurance to their portfolio of personal insurance and employee benefits offerings.
CBO Study Findings
The Social Security Disability Insurance program, which can be used—with some qualifications—as a barometer of disability claims trends in the U.S., saw a nearly sixfold increase from 1970 to 2011 in the number of workers receiving benefits. Six times more people are on Social Security disability today than in 1970. The nation’s population hasn’t even doubled.
When evaluating the reasons for the massive increase in disability claims and grants, the CBO points to one major contributor: baby boomers. The generation born to returning World War II vets is the largest American generation in the nations history. It is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as those born from 1946 to 1964, and its members comprise the largest portion of the new disability benefits recipients. In fact, the CBO says, during “the approximate period the baby-boom generation entered their 50s, the share of disabled worker benefits awarded to older workers (those 45 years old and above) rose from 67% to 76%.”
What’s Your Demographic?
Both your own age and the age of your staff should have your attention by this point. As you grow older, you are more likely to experience a disabling illness or injury, and so are your employees. If your employee benefits offerings don’t include group disability and your personal insurance doesn’t include physicians disability or dentists disability insurance, you are rolling the dice in a very risky game.
For information on protecting your own income or that of your employees, turn to a specialist in disability insurance for doctors.
Source: Huffington Post