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Unemployment benefits run out after a year (or whatever they changed it to), but disability benefits never run out. If you look at the chart the big increase from 1961 to 2011 is "back pain and other musculoskeletal problems", which, as every prospective medical marijuana patient knows, is impossible for a doctor to disprove.

Of course disability claims are going up - the economy is bad and people are using disability as an unemployment benefit. The unfortunate result of all of this is going to be lots of extra paperwork (and potential rejections) for people who really are too disabled to work.




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