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Being unemployed for too long reportedly is driving people mad
and costing taxpayers billions of dollars in mental illness and
other disability claims.
The New York Post reported Sunday that as unemployment checks run
out, many jobless are trying to gain government benefits by
declaring themselves unhealthy.
More than 10.5 million people -- about 5.3 percent of the population
aged 25 and 64 -- received disability checks in January from the
federal government, the Post wrote, a 18 percent jump from before
the recession.
Among those claiming disability, 43 percent are asking for benefits
because of mental illness, the Post wrote. A growing number of those
people are older, former white-collar workers.
Disability claims come from the Social Security Trust Fund, which is
set to go broke in 2018. Congress last week agreed to dip into the
revenue stream to give a 2-percentage point tax break to working
Americans.
The Post noted that the more people file for disability claims, the
better for the unemployment picture since those people are removed
from the jobless rolls.
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