Promoting Opportunity Demonstration (POD)

Objective

The Promoting Opportunity Demonstration (POD) tested a benefit offset and other modifications to the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program to determine the effects on outcomes such as earnings, employment, and benefit payments. Section 823 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 directed the agency to carry out POD as part of a larger interest by Congress in assessing program innovations that might enhance the labor force attachment of SSDI beneficiaries and reduce dependency.

Status

We convened a technical expert panel in April 2016 to help develop the objectives and needs of the project. We awarded contracts to Abt Associates to help with the implementation of POD and to Mathematica Policy Research to conduct the evaluation. Over 10,000 beneficiaries enrolled as participants from January 2018 to January 2019. The evaluation ended in December 2021.

POD reduced participants’ benefits by $1 for every $2 earned above the POD threshold, which was the greater of the Trial Work Period level or the amount of a participant’s itemized impairment-related work expenses (up to Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA)). We used a random assignment design to assign 10,000 volunteers to three groups of approximately 3,333 beneficiaries each, a control group and two treatment groups. The control group continued under usual rules. Treatment group 1 was eligible for the benefit offset and we suspended benefits for any months SSDI benefits were reduced to zero. Treatment group 2 was subject to the benefit offset and we terminated SSDI entitlement when benefits were reduced to zero for 12 consecutive months. Both treatment groups were eligible for POD-specific benefits counseling.

POD locations included:

Alabama (all counties);
California (Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties);
Connecticut (all counties);
Maryland (Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, and Prince George’s counties; Baltimore City);
Michigan (Kent, Ionia, Clinton, Eaton, Shiawassee, Genesee and Lapeer counties);
Nebraska (Adams, Buffalo, Douglas, Hall, Lancaster, and Sarpy counties);
Texas (Bexar, Dallas, and Tarrant counties; and starting in 08/2018, Bell, Collin, Comal, Denton, Ellis, Harris, Hays, Johnson, Kaufman, Montgomery, Parker, Travis, and Williamson counties); and
Vermont (all counties).

Usage of the benefit offset in the first two years following enrollment generated limited impacts on the primary outcomes and no impacts on most secondary outcomes.

POD increased the percentage of beneficiaries who had substantive earnings above the annualized SGA amount by 1 percentage point, or 10 percent relative to the control group mean. However, there were no statistically significant increases in the beneficiaries’ average earnings, SSDI benefits, or income. There were no substantive differences in benefit offset usage or impacts between the two treatment groups.

Other findings include:

Approximately 30 percent of treatment group members used the POD benefit offset.
Earnings reporting challenges: Treatment group members faced substantive challenges reporting monthly earnings in a timely manner. For example, 21% of offset users did not report their earnings.
Over and underpayments were frequent. More than 80 percent of offset users experienced a work-related overpayment or underpayment.
Understanding of current and POD rules was limited. Treatment and control group members faced challenges with answering questions about how earnings affect benefits under POD and current rules.