From a press release:
... Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John B Larson (D-CT) responded to new findings from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study they commissioned which found that thousands of American die or go bankrupt waiting to receive their disability benefits each year. ...
The study, “Social Security Disability: Information on Wait Times, Bankruptcies, and Deaths among Applicants Who Appealed Benefit Denials,” looked at people who appealed an initial denial of their application for Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. It found:
- More than 100,000 people died without receiving a final decision on their appeal for Social Security or SSI disability benefits, out of approximately 9 million who filed an appeal from Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 to FY 2019.
- Approximately 50,000 people filed for bankruptcy while appealing for Social Security or SSI disability benefits, out of approximately 3.6 million who filed an appeal from FY 2014 to FY 2019.
- From FY 2008 to FY 2019, most disability applicants who appealed an initial denial waited more than a year for a final decision. Median wait times reached a peak of 839 days – more than 2 years – for claims filed in FY 2015. ...
4 comments:
Okay, that looks bad at first blush, but what is it, like .10% died and half that bankrupt? Since we have no idea if they died the day they filed or a year later, it is well within what someone would expect and dramatically lower than what one would think from the positing here, where everyone is bankrupt or dead after filing.
It will happen no matter what, there are traumatic onsets and such. The only way would be presumptive payments and that isnt going to work and people not filing disability file bankruptcy.
Honestly, from what the postings are here I thought it would be dramatically higher.
Diving into the numbers, the thing that most sticks out is that the bankruptcy rate for FY08 through FY19 was 1.11%, but the bankruptcy rate from FY14 through FY19 was 1.38%, which is a pretty significant jump. Combined with the median wait time peaking with claims filed in FY15, that is clear evidence of a negative trend in processing claims.
On the plus side, that is improving, though it will still be several years before we get actual numbers and a clearer picture on how much that is improving.
@8:28
True, the numbers are low, but it's an easy fix. Also, it isn't 10%, it is 1.1% died, and .55% went bankrupt. But just because those numbers are small, that doesn't mean it is not a problem, and in fact it suggests the problem is more easily fixed. Just let an SSI claim be pursued posthumously by the estate, like DIB. As the numbers show, it wouldn't have much of an impact, but it would be more fair.
As to bankruptcies, presumptive payments is one possibility (I would say a bad one), it is not the only one. I think a better solution would be something short of bankruptcy, which would stay debt collection until a disability claim is resolved. Require a debtor to provide proof of the filing of a claim to their creditor. That's sortof how a lot of states work where there are cost caps on medical records for social security claimants. You provide the medical records provider proof of filing of a claim, and costs are either reduced or eliminated (depends on the state, and plenty of states have no cost caps at all). The credit industry could adjust to this, limiting, or even entirely closing credit accounts when the individual notified them of the claim. That would create potential other issues, like a debtor not wanting to tell the creditor they are seeking disability, or the creditor dropping or even eliminating the debtor's credit limits, but it would provide another avenue short of bankruptcy, and while debt payments would be delayed due to the stay, it would allow the creditors ultimately to get more money than they would if the debts were discharged.
As to death or bankruptcy being due to a traumatic onset, I'm not sure how that is relevant. If anything, I would suspect a chronic onset is going to cost a LOT more than an acute onset, which would be more likely to result in bankruptcy. As to which is causing more deaths, I'm not a medical expert, and I expect it would entirely vary based on the actual medical condition involved.
A quick run to google shows the daily death rate per 100000 is higher.
Also what says they wouldnt have died even with a decision? Even with a decision and the low payout rate of SSDI would they have avoided bankruptcy?
Still a very very small percentage dying, so hopefully this gives a little more perspective and we can lay the myth of "everyone is dying and going broke" to rest a bit on this blog.
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