The Disability Ponzi Scheme
[D]isability insurance payments, which account for almost $1 out of every $5 spent by Social Security, are growing out of control….
The trustees reported Monday that the government made $128.9 billion in insurance payments to 10.6 million disabled workers and their family members last year, 25 percent more than it received from payroll taxes.
More on disability insurance by Eduardo Porter in the NYT.
Out of control, indeed. With the baby-boomer population hitting retirement, it seems like the amount of $$ from disability insurance payments per dollar spent will go up.
I know people who receive Social Security disability. To suggest they are actually disabled is a stretch. They merely do not have the skills to live in the lifestyle they would like to become accustomed. The Social Security disability program should emphasize retraining rather than doing nothing.
Some are more disabled than others. Maybe retraining is an idea for some who could work in a less demanding field and recieve partial disability.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal discussed an Administrative Law Judge that approved nearly all disability cases that came before him. Judge Daughterty critisized some of his less generous fellow judges thusly… “Some of these judges act like it’s their own damn money we’re giving away.” He was also heard to say about the applicants he oversees… “People would really be surprised at how little education those people have,” he said. “If they have a fourth-grade education, they couldn’t get a job if their lives depended on it.” Daughterty He was essentially providing his own welfare program.