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The SSDI crashed before the retirement side will because of fraud. Many ALJs (Administrative Law Judges) who rule on SSDI cases simply think of it is a way to funnel more money into their communities. Others are in bed with disability lawyers, whose fees are paid by the government anyway. Some, both. In West Virginia, an ALJ retired rather than face an investigation why he approved SSDI benefits for all but two applicants in his lifetime. In Puerto Rico, some pharma company closed a factory (they transferred its product to Ireland). Of the 331 or so employees who were put out of work, something like 320 of them applied for SSDI during their last weeks of work - and got it.
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I have consistently counselled my guys not to expect that there will be anything left by the time we reach that age.
Your post proves that government employees are no more intelligent or educated than those workers on "the street".
In the early 90's, at the time of the OASI bail out, it was predicted that the DI trust fund would be insolvent in 2016. I know it's a shocker that the Chief Actuary could have nailed the year based on demographics but they did. Who would have thought?!
Contrary to the BS put out by those who would love to destroy Social Security, there is very little fraud in the disability program. Someone posted a GAO report to support the allegation of massive fraud but failed to actually read the report. Someone else posted that Social Security has failed to investigate or audit its programs and yet Social Security's Office of Inspector General publishes all of its audits online.
The absolutely worse allegation in your post is that "many ALJs have found ways to funnel more money into their communities" and that other ALJs are in bed with the disability lawyers.
I have worked outside the Agency as a private attorney and inside the Agency's ODAR as an Attorney Advisor. I have never see evidence to suggest that the ALJs collude with private attorneys. The reason the West Virginia case was a big deal is because it was a rare, if not the only, incident of outright fraud and judicial malfeasance. I trust that the media would have brought other similar cases to the public's attention had there been any to find.
Finally, it would be very useful to know what agency you worked for because, you know, there are those on the extreme right that believe there is massive fraud and lazy federal employees in ALL of the agencies. Let's see your credentials...
There has been a concerted effort by certain Republicans to vilify the disabled and/or poor. It was and is beyond stupid for seniors to believe that what happens to the disabled will not happen to the retired. Even after the recently enacted statutory changes affecting those close to retirement, there are seniors who will believe that they are home free, completely oblivious to this "divide and conquer" strategy.
Medicare is by far the easiest target. Ryan's voucher proposal emphasizes that current Medicare beneficiaries will be able to keep their traditional Medicare plan but does not mention that the premium fees will explode without the younger recipients paying their share into the Traditional plan. You would think that after the most recent brouhaha regarding the Medicare premium increases that more seniors would be alert to the negative impact that a voucher system would have on the Traditional plan but I seriously doubt it.
I agree that both Medicare and Social Security need to be fixed. I just wish people weren't so stupid. It drives me crazy.
Bada Bing! Trust the SS disability 20% and the precedent is established to cut the retirement fund benefits 25% around 2032 or so.
Contrary to the BS put out by those who would love to destroy Social Security, there is very little fraud in the disability program. Someone posted a GAO report to support the allegation of massive fraud but failed to actually read the report. Someone else posted that Social Security has failed to investigate or audit its programs and yet Social Security's Office of Inspector General publishes all of its audits online.
From the various GAO reports I have read it's not fraud but failure to monitor and check which results in massive overpayments.
There are other GAO reports out there regarding other processes where the program failed to catch overpayments.
Part of the bill passed requires the SSDI folks to tighten up their process and do more checks of eligibility after granting SSDI to people.
Here's one report where people were receiving unemployment and SSDI concurrently.
It's more of a case of too big to manage itself then outright fraud.
http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/671263.pdf
SSA officials reported that the agency made an estimated $371.5 million in DI overpayments stemming from FECA benefits from fiscal year 2009 through fiscal year 2013, but GAO was unable to determine how much of these funds SSA has recovered.
Part of the problem is that a number of people especially in their fifties when they lost their jobs during the recession went the SS Disability route especially when their unemployment benefits ended.
I think that's the biggest culprit with the recent depletion of SSDI. The problem rest with the rule that the applicant is no longer able to perform the work they've been doing. So if they've spent their working lives in jobs requiring physical labor, a bad back or bum knee, qualifies them for SSDI. The other component is the number of attorneys who have limited their practice to SSDI, and know every aspect of getting a client granted SSDI. There's also, according to the media, some evidence of buddy-buddy stuff going on between these attorneys and judges in some locales. 60 minutes did a story on this awhile back, in an area of eastern KY, where a bunch of coal mines have closed.
The material presented in the article looks pretty unbiased to me. As you might discover if you actually read it, instead of dismissing it because you don't agree with the general perspectives of the source.
And some other entity from the opposite side of the spectrum, can produce data that supports their agenda.
I think that's the biggest culprit with the recent depletion of SSDI. The problem rest with the rule that the applicant is no longer able to perform the work they've been doing. So if they've spent their working lives in jobs requiring physical labor, a bad back or bum knee, qualifies them for SSDI. The other component is the number of attorneys who have limited their practice to SSDI, and know every aspect of getting a client granted SSDI. There's also, according to the media, some evidence of buddy-buddy stuff going on between these attorneys and judges in some locales. 60 minutes did a story on this awhile back, in an area of eastern KY, where a bunch of coal mines have closed.
But that's outside of the SSDI process. That they went to court means SSDI denied them 3 times.
When the judge ok's the application then their hands are tied.
This is a case where the DOJ should have gotten involved.
Lawyers specializing in disability know which judges have high rates of approvals.
Here's a website where you can look up your local jurisdiction to see the approval/denial rate of judges.
Hundreds of Puerto Rico’s residents qualified for federal disability benefits in recent years because they lacked fluency in English, according to government auditors.
The Social Security Administration’s inspector general questioned the policy this month in light of the fact that Spanish is the predominant language in the U.S. territory.
Key members of Congress said Tuesday that two Social Security judges may have approved thousands of bogus disability claims, but the agency has never gone back to review those judges’ cases to stop the ones that were fraudulent.
Rep. James Lankford, Oklahoma Republican, and Rep. Jackie Speier, California Democrat, who head the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on health care, say Social Security employees should be allowed to look at the social media profiles of those applying for disability, reasoning that photos and other information people post can expose the applicants as able-bodied.
The lawmakers also said the agency should come up with a system to review cases from “red-flag” judges who show inclinations toward rubber-stamping applications.
In an exhaustive 11-page memo to Social Security acting Commissioner Carolyn W. Colvin, the lawmakers detailed nearly a dozen recommendations for improving a disability system that has received an explosion of applications in recent years and is in danger of going bankrupt by 2016.
So has Congress and the White House had their Bada Bing moment? Perhaps just perhaps a Bada Bing might be in order for them.
Lenora is an atty with more than ordinary knowledge of the SSDI program, as she has worked with people applying for SSDI - i.e., she's probably a bit more wonky than the rest of us on that issue. So, her observations of errors/omissions might not be something the layman would know or could easily discern.
LOL, I know THIS layman(meaning me) sure couldn't.
Thanks for the heads up.
But it would be interesting to know where those errors and omissions were.
There is no SS trust fund. Senator Kennedy ended that back in the 60s or 70s when he got a bill passed transferring all of the $$$ to the general fund and replaced by IOUs by the federal government. In Washington it was considered one of the greatest accounting tricks of all time, funding the government's current obligations with a pile of money set aside for people's retirements. In the corporate world, it is known as 'raiding the pension fund.'
Do you have any evidence to support such a bizarre and erroneous claim?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ReachTheBeach
Heritage is a conservative think tank.
Heritage is neo-conservative, which is Left-Wing. You can read "The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism" by neo-con econ guru Daniel Bell and then you can read "Two Cheers for Capitalism" by the "god-father" of neo-conservatism, Irving Kristol.
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