Here's a fun little Rorschach Test for Stackers. Clearly there's a trend change during the pandemic, but when does it start and what is the most likely cause?
I'll reserve my commentary for the comment section.
Probably a lot of things going on there, the lockdowns definitely weren't healthy, for people minds or bodies. Lots of people got really fat in that time.
All of the above. Some likely have lingering health issues due to Covid infection, some have health issues due to the vax and some just really liked being home and not having to work.
2020 was a demographic tipping point, which is why they needed the fake black swan at that time to paper over financial markets and keep boomers from retiring. Since people can't afford to retire, they go on disability. (Stealing an election with fake mail-in ballots was a 3rd leg of the stool for the plandemic)
The bad vax's that got around the operation warpspeed placebos just gave people turbocancer or heart attacks, I don't think the long term injuries are any different from flu and other fake vaccines that were on the market before it.
The lockdowns did the opposite, though. Many people took retirement, rather than figure out how to work from home or "risk" going into the office mid-pandemic.
Only the ones that could, which surely ticked up because of all the stimulus pumping assets. Still, that's a small fraction of people that hit what we'd typically consider retirement age.
Generally speaking people are going to be unable to work due to health before they can afford not to. MAHA-MAGA is a response to disability being the only retirement option for so many.
I'm sure disability fraud is a factor too, probably a lot of fake SSN's forwarding disability checks offshore.
Do not forget lockdowns, the inflation of the money supply etc
For so many people out there, at least in the uk, it's so much more convenient to claim disability money than finding a stable work, which may not exist anymore anyway...
I think a lot of things are happening here. The pandemic definitely caused a lot of people to have long-lasting health problems, both physical and mental. Some people who got COVID are still dealing with effects, and that's definitely a factor.
Then there’s the vaccine, which also had some side effects for certain people. That could explain part of the rise in disability claims too.
But I also think that people have started talking more openly about health issues that they might have kept quiet about before. The pandemic made a lot of people rethink how they live, and some decided they just didn't want to go back to the way things were. So, it’s possible some people are now getting diagnosed with things like depression or anxiety, which they might not have before.
I'll add in something else to your great list of possibilities. A huge rise in sedentary living, caused by the lockdowns/remote work/unemployment/etc., caused new disabilities.
It would be helpful to be able to see a breakdown of the types of disability and the relative trends between them over time.
Perhaps also during and since Covid people may be more health conscious and have more time to investigate and get diagnoses?