Dr. Eowyn posted: " I've posted about this before, at least three times
on FOTM, but the message bears repeating. Since the POS became president,
the number of Americans receiving Social Security Disability Insurance
(SSDI) payments has increased 20% to the highest le" Respond to this
post by replying above this line
New post on *Fellowship of the Minds*
<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/author/eowyn2/> Social Security
Disability will be bankrupt in 3
years<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2013/12/18/social-security-disability-will-be-bankrupt-in-3-years/>
by
Dr. Eowyn <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/author/eowyn2/>
[image:
Bankrupt]<http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/bankrupt.jpg>
I've posted about this before, at least three times on FOTM, but the
message bears repeating.
Since the POS became president, the number of Americans receiving Social
Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments has increased 20% to the
highest level ever in U.S. history. At the same time, for every year of the
POS's presidency, the SSDI "trust fund" has run an annual deficit. In
fiscal year 2013, the deficit is $31.49 billion, leaving a balance of
$100.49 billion.
That balance, according to a prediction by the *Social Security
Administration* <http://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/>, will be depleted by 2016.
In other words, Social Security Disability will run out of money IN THREE
YEARS.
Jennifer G. Hickey reports for
NewsMax<http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/social-security-disability-depleted/2013/12/17/id/542390?promo_code=14706-1&utm_source=14706WatchDog_Wire&utm_medium=nmwidget&utm_campaign=widgetphase1>,
Dec. 17, 2013, that Tad DeHaven, a budget analyst at the libertarian think
tank Cato Institute said, "At the time this program [Social Security
Disability Insurance] began we were much more of a blue collar, manual
labor society, so there was some real need for it. Today, we are a lot more
white collar, we have better medicine and devices to assist the disabled,
but those receiving benefits have nonetheless exploded."
DeHaven noted that applications for Social Security Disability Insurance,
or SSDI, tend to increase during recessionary periods, but he said *the
program's expenditures were an estimated $144 billion this year, nearly
double what they were a decade ago.*
When Obama took office there were over 7.4 million workers on disability.
By October 2013, the number has increased to more than 8.9 million, a 20%
jump. Another 2 million spouses and children of disabled workers also
receive SSDI benefits, bringing* the total number of SSDI beneficiaries to
some 10.9 million Americans.*
*The fund has run a deficit every year since Obama took office, after 15
straight years of surpluses. In the 57-year history of the program, there
have been 19 years where the trust fund ran a deficit, five of them under
the current president.*
Since Obama took office, the annual deficits in the disability trust fund
totaled $8.46 billion in fiscal 2009; $20.83 billion in 2010; $25.26
billion in 2011; and $29.70 billion in 2012. Adding in the fiscal 2013
deficit of $31.49 billion brings *the program's red ink under Obama to $115
billion*, according to SSA.
Should the disability fund become depleted, DeHaven said, Congress will
likely draw from the larger Social Security Trust Fund to cover the deficit
rather than implement any substantial reform of the system, putting more
pressure on the finances of the retirement program. "When politicians try
to make reforms, they find people protesting in front of their offices in
wheelchairs, so good luck finding 60 votes in the Senate. There simply is
no political will at the moment to truly reform the system."
Started in 1956, the SSDI program was designed to temporarily assist
individuals with physical or mental disabilities that were severe enough to
prevent them from maintaining employment.
Today, *4.7% of the working-age population is collecting disability
payments, an increase from 2.3% in 1980*. "In other words, disability
insurance caseloads *increased about twice as quickly as the working-age
population*," an analysis by the *San Francisco Federal Reserve*
<http://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2013/june/future-social-security-disability-insurance-ssdi/>pointed
out.
At the same time, SSDI eligibility rules were liberalized and the benefits
are more generous than a decade ago. Adjusted for inflation, the average
payment to SSDI beneficiaries has risen from approximately $560 per month
in 1960 to $1,129 in March 2013, an increase of 98%.
*The program is also fraught with fraud and abuse. *In August, the
Government Accountability Office reported that the *Social Security
Administration made an estimated $1.29 billion in benefit overpayments to
about 36,000 individuals as of January 2013*. The GAO noted it could not
calculate an exact amount without launching "detailed case investigations."
*A report by the nonpartisan group Our Generation provided further evidence
of abuse within the SSDI program*, including:
- An information technology supervisor from Minnesota received $144,293
in disability payments — $6,773 a month — after faking a diagnosis of
early-onset dementia.
- A Missouri man contended he was unable to work and from 2004 through
February 2008, received nearly $60,000 in illegal Social Security
disability payments — while he was earning more than $30,000 a year as a
state legislator.
- A Social Security worker and a group of doctors in Puerto Rico created
a large and sophisticated system for defrauding the federal government of
disability benefits that likely totaled $6 million.
- A Vietnam veteran was sentenced to two years in prison for defrauding
taxpayers of $7,575 in disability payments and more than $500,000 in
various Veterans Administration benefits after falsely claiming he couldn't
walk or stand.
* MacMillin Slobodien*, executive director of Our Generation, which
promotes free-market solutions to public policy issues, says: "What the
report aims to highlight is how the program, which is well-intentioned,
remains susceptible to outright fraud and abuse. By highlighting these
examples of abuse we hope to raise awareness among the public and
legislators of the need to implement cost controls, and tighten eligibility
requirements and oversight. It was meant to be a temporary assistance
program, and if you provide people with the incentive to get back to work,
then you might have fewer people trying to game the system. We would
support any reforms that make sure the benefits go to people who actually
have disabilities, but there must be continuing disability reviews to
ensure those who are receiving payments still qualify."
*But oversight of the program has actually decreased as the size of the
program increased. *
*SSA Inspector General Patrick P. O'Carroll Jr. *testified at a House
hearing in November that an increase in disability claims has created
"workloads that strain resources, causing delays and backlogs, and leaving
the agency vulnerable to fraud and abuse." O'Carroll said the IG's office
estimates the SSA could have "avoided paying at least $556 million during
calendar year 2011 if SSA had conducted the medical Continuing Disability
Reviews when they were due."
DeHaven sees fraud as a legitimate problem, but also believes abuse that is
legally permissible under the program merits equal outrage: "SSDI has more
of an abuse problem than a fraud problem. There are the obvious examples of
abuse, such as the adult man who spent his days dressed up as a baby and
was claiming benefits citing back problems. His claims may have been wrong,
but within the broad definition of disability, his claims were legal
because the definition of disabled has been so liberalized. *If you have
the right lawyers and are persistent, it is quite easy to game the system.*"
See also:
- “*Many on Social Security Disability can but don’t want to work
<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2013/08/03/many-on-social-security-disability-can-but-dont-want-to-work/>*,”
Aug. 3, 2013.
- “Why Americans don’t work: Welfare pays better than
minimum-wage<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2013/10/25/why-americans-dont-work-welfare-pays-better-than-minimum-wage/>,”
Oct. 25, 2013.
- “White men increasingly don’t
work<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2013/11/13/white-men-increasingly-dont-work/>,”
Nov. 13, 2013.
- “America’s Retirement Disaster: 50% of 55-64 y.o. have only $12k in
retirement
savings<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/americas-retirement-disaster-50-of-55-64-y-o-have-only-12k-in-retirement-savings/>,”
Aug. 27, 2013.
*~Eowyn*
*Dr. Eowyn <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/author/eowyn2/>* | December
18, 2013 at 12:18 pm | Tags: Cato
Institute<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?tag=cato-institute>,
Government Accountability
Office<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?tag=government-accountability-office>,
MacMillin Slobodien<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?tag=macmillin-slobodien>,
Our Generation <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?tag=our-generation>, Patrick
P. O'Carroll Jr.<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?tag=patrick-p-ocarroll-jr>,
SSDI abuse <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?tag=ssdi-abuse>, SSDI
fraud<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?tag=ssdi-fraud>,
Tad DeHaven <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?tag=tad-dehaven> |
Categories: Economy <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?cat=17656840>,
Liberals/Democrats/Left <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?cat=115894710>,
Obama <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?cat=376320>, Obama's
America<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?cat=12285619>,
Taxes <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?cat=34919470>,
Welfare<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?cat=35261655>| URL:
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