From the Federal Eye column in the Washington Post:
[The Government Accountability Office] reported that, from 2005-2014, the Social Security Disability Insurance program overpaid $11 billion to beneficiaries who earned too much money to qualify for full benefits. An untrained observer might think this represented an unconscionable squandering of public funds. ...
But on the first page of the report, GAO notes that SSA paid out approximately $143 billion in disability benefits in 2014 alone. SSA’s own actuarial estimates put the total ten-year outlay from 2005-2014 at $1.169 trillion, compared to $11 billion in overpayments. That’s less than 1 percent of total expenditures.
Furthermore, all $11 billion wasn’t lost to the government. SSA can claw back overpayments from disability beneficiaries in subsequent years. In fact, GAO reveals on page 9 of its report that SSA collected $7.8 billion in outstanding debt in the ten-year time frame. Only $1.4 billion in work-related overpayments were completely written off. Now we’re down to 0.12 percent of total expenditures. ...
If I were to tell you that the Social Security disability program was 99.88 percent accurate in issuing benefit amounts to recipients, you might think they were doing an outstanding job. But if I told you the program overpaid by $11 billion – while neglecting to mention how they clawed most of it back – you might dust off your pitchfork and join your local mob’s march to the nearest SSA satellite office. ...
The drumbeat of stories about stray billions lost here and spent there serves the side of our national debate that wants to reduce the size of government and privatize many of its functions. They’re given an artificial boost by reporting which flatters their prejudices. It’s hard to advocate for expanding social benefits amid inaccurate tales of waste. And this can have real consequences. ...
[L]ast week’s budget deal creates roving Cooperative Disability Investigations units, special Justice Department prosecutors and expanded reviews to look into suspected fraud. The changes result directly from the insistence of Congressional Republicans, aided by the media, that the disability program is rife with fraud.
But the budget deal’s reforms sound like something you would invest in to police a broken agency, not one with a 99.88 percent accuracy rate. Any private-sector company with a record as sterling as the disability program would be lauded as an industry model. But thanks to the massive amount of money they pump out on an annual basis, they can be demonized for minor slippages.And let's not forget to mention the active collusion of the GAO and Social Security's Office of Inspector General with Republican efforts to present overpayment information in a misleading way.
4 comments:
Agreed. If there is a silver lining to the cloud of deception it's that it provides an excellent opportunity to spot those who willing to try to dupe the public to achieve their own ends. Take note, and judge the credibility of those who try to mislead on this issue accordingly.
Amen Charles. And O'Carroll was deliberately misleading in his testimony before Congress, even boasting about his increasing powers over the gang who can't shoot straight, the CDI cops hiding in Vans. I would say Duggan was also deliberately misleading, but he had to acknowledge his ignorance on multiple occasions when his studies were debunked by his peers. Other times he was just clueless. And boy did the Republicans demagogue the issue.
A few points and some context: first, SSA rules for an individual to be found under a disability require that individual to have an impairment so severe that the individual is unable to perform their previous job or any other work in the economy and that the impairment(s) will last a period of at least twelve consecutive months or result in death. Once these individuals receive disability they then become eligible to participate in the Ticket Program. I think it's fair to conclude that, based on this criteria, many beneficiaries are not mentally or physically able to return to work. Secondly, for those that want and are able to return to work, the Ticket Program is VOLUNTARY. Congress never required beneficiaries to participate in the Ticket Program should they want to return to work. As a result, many beneficiaries use traditional methods such as previous employers, friends, family, internet job sites, etc when they seek to return to work as they may consider this the fastest and easiest way to start earning income. The Ticket Program provides employment support and will pay for vocational rehabilitation services for those individuals who need assistance with findings jobs, resume writing, job training, career planning, skills assessment, etc. Those beneficiaries who need this assistance are getting these services right now and they number in the hundreds of thousands. The individuals who provide these services are dedicated people who perform the honorable task of trying to help individuals with disabilities improve their financial circumstances. If you take the time to look at the Program and what it does, you will find that it's a good program that is helping people every day.
It amazes me that Duggan is held out as an expert on Social Security. There is no shortage of people in both academia and practice who know much more than he does on the subject. I don't mean to disrespect him, he is obviously a smart man. Nevertheless, it was pretty obvious to me reading his work that he has significant knowledge gaps that cause him to make errors. My message to him would be this. When you step up onto a national policy stage and say things that are wrong, other people who don't know better might believe you and bad laws can result. When those bad laws concern vital programs that seniors and vulnerable people rely upon to live, then real people get hurt. Don't hurt people.
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