Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security's disability program with benefit claims and that's pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.
/ FILE
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security's disability program with benefit claims and that's pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.
Applications are up nearly 50 percent over a decade ago as people with disabilities lose their jobs and can't find new ones in an economy that's shed nearly 7 million jobs.
The stampede for benefits is adding to a growing backlog of applicants -- many wait two years or more before their cases are resolved -- and worsening the financial problems of a program that's been running in the red for years.
New congressional estimates say the trust fund that supports Social Security disability will run out of money by 2017, leaving the program unable to pay full benefits.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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