The Federal Disability Insurance Program has the potential to be one of the largest government scams in the U.S., with up to 45% on disability insurance fraudulently collecting benefits. And what’s even worse, the program could run out of money.
In October 2013, CBS 60 Minutes aired “Disability, USA” on the eve of a Senate hearing to look at the Federal Disability Insurance Program.
When the Federal Disability Insurance Program began in the 1950s, it was a small program intended to assist people who were unable to work because of illness or injury.
From 60 Minutes:
Today, it serves nearly 12 million people – up 20 percent in the last six years, with a budget of $135 billion. That’s more than the government spent last year on the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the Labor Department combined. It’s been called a “secret welfare system” with it’s own “disability industrial complex,” a system ravaged by waste and fraud. A lot of people want to know what’s going on. Especially Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.
According to Coburn, the statue is pretty clear as to is eligible for disability benefits. If there’s any job in the economy the individual, then that person is not eligible for disability.
The Social Security Administration, which runs the disability program says the explosive surge is due to aging baby boomers and the lingering effects of a bad economy. Coburn, a physician, says it’s more complicated than that.
Read the whole story here.
