Is abuse of the Social Security Disability system rampant?

60 Minutes wants you to think so: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50156574n

Are doctors and lawyers "cashing in" through fraudulent claims?

(the other side of the argument) http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/07/60-minutes-report-denounced-for-disability-misi/196317

10/14/2013 11:06:58 AM

"Who cares? They vote Democrat."

10/14/2013 11:20:00 AM

any fraud that exists is surely eclipsed by the influx of boomers legitimately draining services.

10/14/2013 11:47:11 AM

I don't know that it's legitimate.

In the example in the video, how can one attorney win 100% of his claims? Smells suspicious.

10/15/2013 10:08:18 AM

Hoping the government doesn't pay attention to this forum, but I know people who claim disability... not completely fraudulent. But, they work through the loop holes. These people I know,are no worse off than you or me. Maybe just a little bit older. And yes, they are from low-income households.

60 minutes isn't far from the truth.

[Edited on October 15, 2013 at 4:03 PM. Reason : ...]

10/15/2013 4:00:05 PM

I also know people who have been very much screwed over by an injury.

You always hear this side about fraud in the media, but yet, we still actually don't have a very good system for the people who legitimately get hurt. One guy, for instance:

Dude was working 20 hrs/week... because he was underemployed / couldn't find real work / transitional phase. You know the deal. So guy gets hurt, due to perfectly obvious injury, has obvious pain from it. He can't work, gets paid 2/3rd of the pay from the crappy job that gave him that injury in the first place.

This is a person who winds up living on charity from others. It may not be governmental. It may be from local organizations, or (more likely) family.

As a society, we haven't figured out a solution worth a damn to the problem of pain. Guy comes to you, is in incredible pain. What do you do? You've already has the medical imagining done. Doctor's don't have any surgery to suggest. He's not responding to therapy. Dude is just... in pain.

We have things that do work for pain. They're basically hard drugs. The patients grow more tolerant to them, even less able to live a normal life, and it's not a happy place to be in. To a significant degree, it's our war on drugs that makes managing those issues so costly to begin with.

10/15/2013 4:27:07 PM

the war on drugs? THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!! we've got to keep destroying families (especially black ones) and putting kids in terrible conditions in order to look after the children!

10/15/2013 9:13:43 PM

Quote :

"In the example in the video, how can one attorney win 100% of his claims? Smells suspicious."

IIRC from an NPR story on this I heard a while ago, there isn't an opposing counsel. It's just a lawyer that has to convince a judge.

http://apps.npr.org/unfit-for-work/

10/16/2013 12:49:15 PM