Those who know anything about Social Security Disability Insurance benefits (SSDI) understand that if you have been found disabled by the Social Security Administration that disability benefits do not come close to providing all missed income due to an inability to work. People on SSDI would make more money if they were able to continue to work and many SSDI recipients struggle with making ends meet. A recent study, conducted by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, now shows that there is a connection with receiving disability benefits and food insecurities. The study looked at data from 2010 to 2019 to determine that food insecurity rates are higher in counties with high rates of disability beneficiaries compared to lower food insecurity rates when there are fewer disability beneficiaries.
There are many more interesting insights gathered in the study. In addition to finding the food insecurity disparities between disability beneficiaries and non beneficiaries, the study also found that disability beneficiaries are more likely to live in areas that have fewer healthy food options. Identifying the problem is important, but solving it would be better. Below are some key points from the study. Following that is the conclusion summing up all the data the study produced.
The paper found that:
- Food insecurity rates are higher in counties with high rates of disability and DI receipt than in those with lower rates of disability and DI receipt. The paper reports that counties with high rates of disability and DI receipt have lower average food costs, but more limited access to food sources than counties with lower rates of disability and DI receipt.
- The paper also finds that counties with high rates of disability and DI receipts have fewer food establishments. Furthermore, counties with high rates of disability and DI receipt also have a larger supply of unhealthy food options.
Conclusion
In this paper, we account for access to food—by measuring the availability and accessibility of food stores and restaurants within each county—in the relationship between rates of disability and DI beneficiaries, and food insecurity. In general, we find that counties having a large share of residents with disabilities or high rates of DI beneficiaries are also limited in their availability and accessibility to food establishments. Digging deeper, we find that these same counties also have a larger share of food establishments that likely provide unhealthy food options. These include small grocery stores, convenience stores, limited-service restaurants, pharmacies, and gas stations. We find a strong correlation between many of these types of food establishments and disability and DI beneficiary rates. Importantly, we find a strong correlation between disability and food insecurity even after controlling for access to food. Our results should not be interpreted through a causal lens, however, as they only indicate a correlation between these factors. Linked data, more geographically-specific data, and more information on specific types of disabilities would all be ways to extend this line of research.
