Jobless are straining Social Security's disability benefits program

[mike r]

Source: Washington Post

The number of former workers seeking Social Security disability benefits has spiked with the nation's economic problems, heightening concern that the jobless are expanding the program beyond its intended purpose of aiding the disabled.

Applications to the program soared by 21 percent, to 2.8 million, from 2008 to 2009, as the economy was seriously faltering. The growth is the sharpest in the 54-year history of the program. It threatens the program's fiscal stability and adds to an administrative backlog that is slowing the flow of benefits to those who need them most.

Moreover, about 8 million workers were receiving disability benefits in June, an increase of 12.6 percent since the recession began in 2007, according to Social Security Administration statistics. Though policymakers anticipated the program's rolls growing with the aging of the baby-boom population, they suspect the current surge has less to do with any worsening in the health of the workforce than with the poor health of the economy.

About half of all applicants eventually make it onto the disability rolls - a percentage that has not changed appreciably with the recent spike in applications, Social Security officials say. The average age of new recipients is 49 - and less than 1 percent of them return to work, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Social Security officials say they are confident that their vetting process screens out most people who might try to get benefits without being qualified. But, they acknowledge, when jobs are scarce, more workers who might otherwise struggle through with their ailments try to secure disability benefits.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091306493.html

[mrcheerful]

1. So in other words SS payments haven't gone up just the number of people applying for

SS benefits are up. I wonder how many of these people bought into the lie that all they had to do was go down to the SS office, claim they have a mental issue and walked out of the office with their $1,600.00 disability check in hand? I first heard a wing nut claim this story 7 years ago so I can guess that wing nuts are running down to the SS office for their disability check or early retirement checks from the sound of this crap trap.

Edited to add...........

Proving your disabled is hard and a mental disability requires years of paper work showing a history of mental disorders effecting a persons work record, after re reading the article I was right, it's mostly nit wits who are out of work seeking benefits for something they either don't have or they have that hasn't effected their working abilities until recently.

[Downwinder]

2. It is not that easy. n/t

[mrcheerful]

3. I know I went through the process in 1984 and even though I had doctor records going back to 1962

it still took me 2 years of seeing SS doctors to win.

Edited to add

What really got me was the state rehabilitation sheltered work shop that said I was even to disabled to work at the work shop turned around when I went to SS and said there were jobs I still could do, they later retracted that and said no there are no jobs or work places that would hire me with the restrictions I have.

[Recursion]

4. OTOH, if these people were newly unemployed

Then they were working before, and this isn't really the purpose of the disability system. I'm all for getting them money, and don't particularly care which conduit it goes through, but the disability system isn't meant to be general unemployment insurance.

[Donnachaidh]

8. $1,600 disability check -- in WHAT universe?

Try a THIRD of that - IF you are lucky. And out of THAT pay for medicare benefits.

We had a neighbor who fell in his kitchen breaking his neck. He was a QUADROPLEGIC after the accident. Social Security turned him DOWN first application -- and second one, too. they had to lawyer up to get anything.

[mrcheerful]

14. A right wing nut actually said he was at the SS office and seen a guy walk in claim he had

a mental disability and got a $1,600.00 check without any wait. The wing nuts was calling disability nut checks for awhile now based on claims such as this.

[Donnachaidh]

15. what a stinking pile of utter BS

I'm on disability, and even with my problems it took 3 times, WITH a lawyer - about 18 months from start to finish. And the amount you get differs per state. I have met NO ONE who gets 1,600 per month - EVER. My DH received notification that after 40+ years work he may be eligible for $1,200 a month. So even he, with a long work history, won't get that amount.

Fox keeps feeding those lies to wingnuts...

[Dappleganger]

18. Do they approve anyone the first time around?

Honestly, I have not met one person in my lifetime who was approved without at least one appeal or more. Someone told me at the local homeless shelter that most of them there are having to appeal 4 times or more for benefits. What do they do while waiting?

Exactly.

[mrcheerful]

19. Not since the 1980's, during Reagans screwed up time it took 2 to 3 appeals

before you got approved or had to see a judge. Lawyers and welfare would end up with most of your back pay, at the time there wasn't any 10% cut off. I was on welfare for 2 years while waiting for a decision after I got approved welfare sent me a bill for the 2 years of welfare while waiting that had I paid the bill I would have only had $600 left of back pay. Also back in the 80's the SSI and SSDI payments started at $350 a month for SSI and $370 a month for SSDI. What was amusing was the welfare worker I had forgot to have me sign a pay back agreement so I didn't have the back pay check end up at welfare and welfare couldn't force me to pay them back.

[Donnachaidh]

21. when they turned down our neighbor I was STUNNED

Here was a guy who literally could not do ANYTHING other than move his head and lift a shoulder part way up. WTF? He needed a machine to help him BREATHE.

And they turned him DOWN. It was mind-boggling.

[happyslug]

5. This happens every recession, people lose the job, run out of Unemployment then apply for Disability

We tend to forget that it is a POSITIVE action by an employer to terminate an employee. If everything is going all right no need for such POSITIVE action so people who are no longer capable of working stay on the job. When the Economy goes down hill then the Employers do a POSITIVE action by terminating them (Positive is the sense the act of termination is something that requires the Employer do do SOMETHING as oppose to doing nothing an leaving things as there are). At that point the disable person applies for unemployment and when Unemployment runs out Social Security Disability.

To be "disabled" for Social Security purposes you must be incapable of doing work "That exists in Substantial Numbers in the National Economy". Furthermore the Social Security take into consideration the aging process and once it is shown you can NOT do the work you did within the last 15 years (Or have SKILLS that can be transferred to other jobs) then it is up to Social Security that they are other jobs in the National Economy you can do. Social Security handles the aging process by changing what jobs they will consider based on your age. I.e. if you can not go back to your same "relevant work" i.e. work you did in the last 15 years, then if you are over age 50 you are disabled if all you can do are other sedentary jobs (jobs that require you to be on your feet less then two hours a day AND pick up less then 10 pounds). If you are over age 55 the test (and you can not go back to your same "relevant work" i.e. work you did in the last 15 years) and can only do work that requires you to lift no more then 25 pounds then you are disabled.

If you want to look at the Sequential Evaluation system yourself here it is:
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2010/aprqtr/20cfr404PApp2.htm

My point is people will stay on the job as long as possible, even after they are to disabled to do that job. Such people stay employed when do to their employer's (and more the case their fellow employees') conduct they are able to hold on to that job long after it became clear the employee could NO longer do the job. Then do to a recession the disabled worker loses his or her job. At such a point the employee applies for Unemployment and when that runs out for Social Security disability. The employee wins Social Security Disability for the Employee had been disabled for years by that point. For this reason application for Disability increases during recessions. Always has and probably always will.

[Historic NY]

6. It took me 4 yrs and 2 court hearings & 2 appeals....

even after worker comp recommended my employer not take me back.

[flyarm]

11. I guess only the dishonest people are getting it..because the honest people sure as fuck aren't

getting it! My brother was told to hire a lawyer and to appeal as many times as 6 times..before he would get it...and most likely not without going to court.

And like you, he was told he would probably have to go to court..after the appeal process is over. This is a disgrace..he is too sick to sit in SS offices for appeals and be exposed to germs he can not afford...and walking into and out of SS offices, which is intolerable for him right now.
So much for working hard all your life and paying into a system that is total Fail when you need it most.

Oh and My Brother is 59..it is not like he is a young person trying to apply..

Just wait till the Cat Food Commission gets done with us!

And never forget..we all paid into this ..as well as our employers..This is no freebee..we paid for this insurance!

[Historic NY]

13. its doesn't cost for the SS lawyer and they can only get 5300....upon settlement..

[No Elephants]

7. In other news, people try to survive.

[bemildred]

9. More lying bullshit from WaPo about social security:

"expanding the program beyond its intended purpose of aiding the disabled"

People who have real disabilities often like to work, and when they lose their jobs, they apply for disability benefits to help pay the bills. It does not mean the program is somehow being "misused".

[flyarm]

10. and my brother who applied was just denied..he is going on his 4th round of Chemo for Leukemia

and between the third and 4th round we almost lost him..but he was turned down for disability!

He has a 16 yr old daughter and hasn't been able to work since being diagnosed in May..and has been out of work. He has lesions all over his body..a Leukemic erruption is what it is called and it is so bad on the bottom of his feet he can not walk.

He was demanded to go to the SS office the day after his third round of Chemo ended and the day after leaving the Hospital from the 3rd week of Chemo.

He begins his 4th round of Chemo next week..and he was denied disabiity!

[maddogesq]

12. I got a letter from SSA last year saying they may owe me money.

11 motnhs later, I am still waiting. I am told the computer keeps rejecting my stuff for final approval, even though DDS approved it months ago. I was told by my case manager that my case is "the most complicated I have ever seen in my 30 years of doing this." GOOD GRIEF. Maaybe we need to start fewer silly wars and put the resources into manpower at SSA and VA.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. 2 points here.

First, the WaPo is playing fear politics, offering up a new version of "welfare Queen" to incite the "haves" against the "have nots", a very old trick which unfortunately has proven quite effective over the decades.

Second, the article and the comments in this thread are not making a clear distinction between the nation wide Federal Social Security Disability program, ( SSDI) which is open to people who have a sufficient work record AND who are truly disabled,
and
the STATE disability program, ( SSI ) which is a program for people who do not have enough work credits under the Soc. Security program and who are truly disabled.

It is my experience that State SSI disability in some areas has been exceedingly difficult to obtain, because it is seen more as a "welfare" program, and because state budgets vary on how many enrollees they can cover.
( It used to be 80% state funds, 20% Federal funds, which I am sure has drastically changed over the past 10 years).
So I would expect state SSI programs to increase the hoops one needs to jump thru to get help.

Soc. Sec. Disability ( SSDI) has uniform requirements across the country, there should not be any difference in
eligibility from one state to the next.
Having said that, I am aware the some states present a more difficult process because of distance to examining doctors, number of applicants per area, etc.

for the record, Mr. d is on Soc. Sec. Disability, after working for 35 years, he was never turned down, it took 18 months after the initial application, follow up phone calls, back and forth paperwork,
it took 3 visits to same Soc. Sec. dr, 50 miles away, over a 8 month period, ( for a very physically obvious disability).
In all honesty, I do not think if we had been in New York City or in Ca. it would have gone as well as it did in our small rural area.
And no way did he get 1600 a month check after he was accepted.

I anticipate that the STATE disability programs ( SSI) are going to be rejecting and/or reviewing a whole lot of people as the economy continues to tank.
I suspect that the nation wide Federal Soc. Sec. program ( SSDI) is going to be used as a whipping boy to stampede support for the Catfood Commission.

[SammyWinstonJack]

20. My husband is on SSDI after 40 yrs of working. It took only 5 wks from

the time he applied the first time, too be accepted. He never saw a SS doctor. He receives quite a bit more that $1600 per month. Almost $600 more.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. Wow. nice to hear a success story.

[KamaAina]

17. "About half of all applicants eventually make it onto the disability rolls"

The gotcha is "eventually". Even for people with obvious disabilities, the procedure works like this: Go in. Get denied. Go back in. Get denied again. Get a lawyer, like the ones that carpet-bomb daytime TV with ads. Rinse and repeat. In the meanwhile, some applicants give up. Others die. And they're counting on that. :grr:

The backlog is so bad that Congress is actually looking into the district that covers California, Hawai'i, and the Pacific island jurisdictions.