It is important to realize that the government has two major programs which provide assistance to disabled individuals: Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (DI).

SSI provides assistance to aged, blind and disabled people, but it is paid for out of general tax revenue NOT Social Security taxes. Any changes to Social Security tax laws will not impact the revenue of SSI, and these disability benefits will continue to be provided no matter what.

DI provides assistance only to those disabled workers who have worked for a certain period of time and have paid Social Security taxes. Of the 12.4% in payroll taxes that are collected for Social Security only 1.8% of funds are used to fund DI. Since such a small percentage of taxes are dedicated to DI, it is possible to reform just the retirement portion of the Social Security system and leave disability insurance alone. That means that creating personal accounts does not have to mean the end of disability insurance.