Protecting the entitlements of the mentally disabled: The SSDI/SSI legal battles of the 1980s

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) & Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are federally funded benefits that mentally ill people in the US depend on for their subsistence. In Mar 1981, the Social Security Administration (SSA), which administers both programs, was instructed by state agencies to begin periodic reviews of beneficiary eligibility. Within two years, half a million people were cut from the programs; lawsuits filed on behalf of mentally disabled people followed. The courts declared many policies unlawful & issued orders to re-adjudicate thousands of cases, which created a tremendous administrative burden for the SSA & resulted in the SSA, not the federal government, having to pay the costs of support for mentally ill persons. 15 References. R. Logsdon