Survey shows people don't understand workers' compensation, Social Security disability
A recent survey of baby boomers by Americas Health Insurance Plans revealed that most people do not understand what their benefits would be if they became injured or disabled and began collecting workers' compensation or Social Security Disability benefits.
Those surveyed overestimated the benefit amount and underestimated the wait time to receive Social Security Disability benefits, a system that is incredibly backlogged.
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They also didn't understand eligiblity requirements for either government-funded SSDI or employer-funded workers' compensation
Nearly half of the 827 respondents said they believed incorrectly that a working adult would qualify for SSDI benefits if he or she were unable to work at their current job but could still work at another job that paid less.
More than a third said they thought that a worker would qualify for SSDI benefits if he or she could work no more than 20 hours a week, and one in four said they didn't know what the qualifications were.
In reality, workers are eligible for SSDI benefits only if they are unable to do any work for which they would earn $1,000 or more a month.
Just one in five correctly estimated the average monthly SSDI benefit for a disabled worker to be about $1,000 a month. Eighteen percent overestimated the benefit, and 43% said they didn't know.
The survey also assessed the boomers' knowledge of the length of time it takes to receive SSDI benefits.
Thirty-four percent estimated the length of time to be shorter than it generally was, and 35% said they didn't know. The average length of time it takes for a person who files a SSDI claim to be accepted or denied is more than 17 months.
"Baby boomers know very little about the public disability safety net available for workers who suffer a disability," Humphrey Taylor, chairman of the Harris Poll, said in a statement.
Thirty-six percent didn't know how much of their income workers' compensation benefits would replace, and one in five overestimated benefits. Just 24% knew that workers' compensation replaces two-thirds of a worker's pre-disability income.