This is not only a phenomenon of the US only. In recent years, early retirements in Austria have exploded because of disability reasons. It was "hip" to go to a psycho doc and get yourself a medical certificate that you have a "burnout" or some other psychological problem, then apply for early retirement. Last year, the SPÖVP coalition made it really tough to apply for these early retirements based on psychological reasons and now you have to register with the Labor Service first, then go to rehab (sometimes multiple times) and wait to be "re-integrated into the labor market". There's an effect: the early retirements are WAY down in the past year, but tell that to those who really have severe medical/psychological problems and are now stuck in endless labor market agency shuffles/rehab/into a new job/get fired again/back to the labor market service etc. and still without the chance to apply for a regular pension for another 10+ years ...
