Evaluation of disability insurance savings due to beneficiary rehabilitation

This article uses individual vocational rehabilitation case data and disability insurance (DI) benefit histories from the master beneficiary record file to compare the costs and savings to the DI trust fund associated with the beneficiary rehabilitation program. Using cost-benefit procedures and varying assumptions as to the impact of vocational rehabilitation services, the savings to the trust fund were found to range between $1.39 and $2.72 per $1.00 of cost for DI beneficiaries who completed their vocational rehabilitation service period in fiscal year 1975. Calculating savings according to the length of the savings period revealed that expenditures for vocational rehabilitation services to these beneficiaries would be fully repaid within 10 years after closure. It was also discovered that the loss of savings due to return to the DI rolls substantially exceeds the increased payroll tax revenue accruing to the trust fund from post-vocational rehabilitation employment.