From an editorial in the
Des Moines Register:
It’s the stuff of nightmares: Permanently injured in an auto
accident, you lose your ability to work and must apply for disability
benefits.
Faced with mounting medical bills, as well as
the usual expenses for groceries and rent, you go to your local Social
Security Administration office to secure desperately needed federal
disability benefits.
You approach the counter, see a sign
advising you to “Take a number, please,” and you comply. The
receptionist calls out, “Number six?” You look at the slip of paper in
your hand and realize you are number 1,136,849.
You ask
the receptionist how long you’ll have to wait. She smiles broadly and
cheerfully responds, “Thanks for stopping by! Your disability claim is
important to us! The average wait time is currently 19 months and 22
days!” ...
Unfortunately, this nightmare scenario is based on a stark reality now faced by many disabled Americans. ...
When it was revealed that 200 veterans may have died in 2015 while
waiting for care at an Arizona Veterans’ Administration hospital,
Congress wasted no time scheduling hearings and proposing legislative
fixes to address that problem. The SSA’s case backlog has grown for
years and affects a much broader segment of the population, yet the
outrage, if it exists at all, is muted. ...
From the
Washington Post:
The Treasury Department refuse[d] to stop forcing permanently disabled
people to pay taxes on student loans that have been canceled, leaving a
vulnerable population susceptible to thousands of dollars in charges,
according to Senate staffers.
Anyone with a severe disability is eligible to have the government
discharge their federal student loans. The process is widely considered
difficult to navigate, so the Obama administration allows people to use
their Social Security designation to apply, yet few take advantage. As a
result, the Education Department began identifying borrowers too
disabled to repay their federal loans and guiding them through
debt cancellation. The trouble is, every dollar forgiven by the
government is considered taxable income.
Congressional lawmakers have urged Treasury to use its
administrative authority to fix the problem, but the department is not
taking action.
At a meeting Wednesday, Treasury officials
informed Senate staffers that it will not issue guidance addressing the
tax penalty for disabled borrowers, according to people in attendance
who were not authorized to speak publicly. They said Treasury officials
conceded that roughly two thirds of affected borrowers are insolvent, a
designation that would allow Treasury to waive any taxes connected to
discharged loans. Claiming insolvency, however, involves complex
paperwork. ...
