Mass. disability subcommittee hears DER analysis of SSDI benefit cliffs, flags federal research and grant cuts

The Disability Employment Subcommittee of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities on a virtual meeting heard a high‑level update from the Department of Economic Research on how Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) can create steep "benefit cliffs" that deter people with disabilities from returning to full‑time work.

The report presentation and ensuing discussion focused on the DER team's modeling of three common beneficiary scenarios and on SSDI as the program that produced the largest modeled income troughs. "Our analysis found that a substantial portion of SSDI recipients would likely hit an income trough," said Mark Rembert, chief economist at the Department of Economic Research, summarizing the team's preliminary findings. DER said the full report remains pending final approval for public posting, and DER plans an event to release and explain the full findings once clearance is complete.

Why this matters: advocates and service providers told the subcommittee that benefit cliffs have real effects on employment decisions and on the day‑to‑day work of benefits counselors. Kathy Petkauskas, a Commission member who also represents Work Without Limits at UMass Chan Medical School, said recent federal changes are already altering how…