Time-Limited Benefits Before Permanent SSDI Disability Benefits

This brief provides an overview of time-limited benefits—as developed in several different proposals to reform SSDI—and an evidence-based assessment of their potential to reduce pressure on the SSDI trust fund and improve the well-being of individuals with disabilities. After describing the elements of proposed reforms that include time-limited benefits, we first review evidence supportive of time-limited benefits and follow this with a review that points to their limitations. We look to the research on existing disability insurance programs both domestically and internationally for evidence on key features that could determine success. The brief concludes with a discussion of implications for policymakers.