May 5, 2009

Details Emerge On Budget Plan

From today's Wall Street Journal:
The [Obama] budget [for Fiscal Year 2010], scheduled for release Thursday, will include funds for what the White House is calling a "program integrity" initiative, enough to fund 1,100 field officers in the Social Security Administration ...

Budget office officials say every dollar spent by the Social Security Administration to review disability claims will save $11 in erroneous payments. The administration hopes to secure $485 million more in the fiscal year that begins in October -- $4.3 billion over five years -- to plow through the backlog of disability reviews, which determine continued payments for disability insurance and supplemental security income, programs for the poorest of the poor. Recipients continue to receive payments while their eligibility is under review.
We will have to see the details, but only 1,100 additional employees? That is not even enough for a credible program integrity initiative.

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