Here's something that shows the split between pension and disability. Looks like the disability part is about fifteen percent, not enough to make up the deficit but a pretty good chunk of it.
Facts about Social Security benefits
Social Security has been providing benefits to millions of workers for 65 years.
Social Security--sometimes referred to by its full name, Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)--is a social insurance system established in 1935 to provide benefits to workers and their family members upon retirement, disability, or death. It is an earned benefit insurance program, which means that only those who work and pay taxes are eligible for Social Security benefits.
At the end of December 2003, Social Security provided monthly benefits to 47 million beneficiaries (or one in every 6 Americans). Social Security paid a total of $471 billion to retired workers, disabled workers, and to the surviving family members of deceased workers in 2001 (SSA 2004 Trustees Report). In 2002, Social Security beneficiaries included about 3 million children under the age of 18.
Social Security benefits are guaranteed to beneficiaries. Because Social Security is not an investment scheme but rather a social insurance program, its benefits will continue to be paid as long as a beneficiary depends on them. Social Security's finances are not subject to the ups and downs of the stock market, or the luck of individual investors. The promise of Social Security benefits is instead backed by the good faith of the U.S. government, pretty much in the same way that the government backs the value of the dollar. Thus, there is no uncertainty for beneficiaries--once they start receiving benefits, they will continue to receive them in the future.
Social Security offers mainly retirement benefits.
Workers can receive four different types of benefits under Social Security: retirement, early retirement, disability, and survivorship benefits.
Workers are entitled to retirement benefits if they have contributed to Social Security for at least 10 years, and if they have reached the normal retirement age, which is currently 65 (and is set to increase to 67 for workers born after 1959).
Early retirement benefits are available to workers if they have contributed to Social Security for at least 10 years, and if they have reached the earliest age at which benefits can be paid, currently 62. Benefits, however, are reduced by 20% compared to what the retiree would have received at age 65.
Both full and early retirement benefits were paid to 29.2 million retired workers in 2002. Of these, 71% or 20.8 million retirees received a reduced benefit payment because they chose the early retirement option. Average monthly retirement benefits for all workers receiving retirement benefits were $895 in 2002, or about $10,700 per year. In comparison, workers who had retired early received on average $830 per month.
Workers are also insured in case they become disabled.
Social Security provides insurance to workers in case they become disabled and can no longer work. The disability need not be related to an accident at the worker's job. The number of years that are required to receive disability benefits varies with the age of a worker. Younger workers need fewer years to qualify for disability benefits. In 2002, Social Security paid an average monthly disability benefit of $834 to 5.5 million beneficiaries.
Social Security offers life-insurance type benefits to workers.
If a worker dies, her family receives benefits from Social Security. Survivorship benefits are paid if the deceased worker has, on average, worked at least one quarter for each year after he or she attained the age of 21. In 2002, Social Security paid an average monthly survivorship benefit of $861.
Social Security is the most significant source of income for the majority of retirees over 65 years old.
Social Security benefits are the most important source of income for the majority of elderly households. Although these benefits are modest, they account for a large portion of income for many elderly households.
Figure 1 presents a summary of data collected by the Social Security Administration (SSA) from 2001. The SSA found that Social Security provided more than half of the total income for almost two-thirds of households comprised exclusively of those aged 65 and older and provided at least 90% of income for a third of this group.
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