Accelerated Benefits Demonstration

Phase I – New York, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Houston
Phase II –

Phase I – October 2007 - November 2007
Phase II – March 2008 - January 2009

Summary

In this demonstration, we  tested whether providing medical benefits sooner to SSDI beneficiaries would improve health outcomes and result in less long-term dependency on cash benefits.  We assigned beneficiaries selected for the demonstration project to one of three groups.  All received their regular cash benefits.  In addition, we provided health benefits to the first group.  We gave the second group health benefits plus support under a care management model and employment/benefits counseling.  The third group was a control group with no additional benefits to provide a comparison to see if the interventions resulted in a difference in health and employment outcomes.  Participants were newly entitled SSDI beneficiaries, under age 55, with at least 18 months before entitlement to Medicare.

Detailed Description

View the Detailed Description of the Demonstration online.
Print out a Detailed Factsheet.

Reports

Policy Brief/Early Findings
Policy Brief/Six-Month Survey Results
Social Security Bulletin Article on Accelerated Benefits Demonstration
AB Final Report   
AB Final Report – Appendixes   

On January 20, 2006, we awarded a contract to MDRC to implement and evaluate the project.  Phase I of the project began in October 2007 in four sites.  Phase II enrollment began in March 2008.  We completed the Phase II enrollments in January 2009.  We continued to provide services to participants until they transitioned to Medicare.  The contract ended January 2011.  The link to the final report from the contractor is above.  We will continue to follow the participants using our administrative records to see if the interventions result in different outcomes for the beneficiaries.