Tuesday, September 18, 2012

25% of Social Secuirty Benefits Awarded Wrongly

Does this surprise anyone:

The Social Security Administration improperly awarded disability benefits in more than 25 percent of cases examined between 2006 and 2010, according to a new Senate report -- potentially costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
The findings conclude an 18-month investigation by the chamber’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and show that roughly a quarter of the 300 randomly selected disability cases were awarded benefits “without properly addressing insufficient, contradictory and incomplete evidence.”
Each questionable decision can mean a big taxpayer expense. According to one estimate, the average lifetime disability award is $300,000.
The investigation was led by Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, a medical doctor and the subcommittee’s top Republican. He said the bipartisan report shows information gathered over the past several years concludes the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs are “teetering on financial bankruptcy.”
The 136-page report focuses on questionable benefits rulings made by administrative law judges, including one in Oklahoma who was found to have awarded more than $1.6 billion in lifetime benefits in just three years. Judge Howard O’Bryan, in Oklahoma City, approved roughly 90 percent of more than 5,400 cases from 2007 to 2009 -- most of them held “on-the-record” without hearings, according to the minority report.
How many times have I told you: The federal government does a lousy job of administering social welfare programs. It's time to get them out of the business of doing welfare. No accountability and fraud by the hundreds billions of dollars: That's what you get when the government tries to do "compassion".
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/17/senate-report-about-25-percent-social-security-disability-benefits-improperly/?intcmp=trending#ixzz26p6FtaxL

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