Background on "disability" in the USA

Per a series of articles in the Washington Post, the number of working-age adults receiving disability in the USA climbed from 7.7 million to 13 million between 1996 and 2015. The federal government this year will spend an estimated $192 billion on disability payments, more than the combined total for food stamps, welfare, housing subsidies and unemployment assistance. The rise in disability has emerged as yet another indicator of a widening political, cultural and economic chasm between urban and rural America.

The first article in this series was published on March 30, 2017, and the latest was published on October 7, 2017. They offer insight on the human side of this story that goes beyond dry statistics. Here are links to the articles:

2017-03-30  Disabled or just desperate: Rural Americans turn to disability as jobs dry up (WAPO)

2017-06-01  One family. Four generations of disability benefits. Will it continue_The number of homes with multiple recipients has risen, especially among the poor  (WAPO)

2017-07-21  In this rural town, disability divides a community between those who work and those who don’t  (WAPO)

2017-08-27  Some say people receiving disability benefits just need to get back to work. It's not that easy  (WAPO)

2017-10-07  Her disability check was gone, and now the only option left was also one of the worst  (WAPO)