It is just not in NYC. It is replete throughout the entire country.
They don’t put those Cochran Firm “we can get your denied disability claims fixed for you” ads on TV for nothing.
Biggest scam there is.
Together with SSI, SSDI accounts for 25% of all Social Security disbursements. (SSI is not an SSA funded entitlement, but it is managed by SSA).
There are people who are legitimately disabled. They can be denied benefits on the first application. Usually Social Security will send applicants to a doctor at their expense to determine whether a disability classification should be granted.
You have be incapable of doing any kind of normal gainful work to qualify. And obviously, this is where it can get subjective.
My sister-in-law works for a charity and interviews these people all the time. She says, in our area, the biggest scam is “bipolar disorder”.
Whole families not working because of it. They even have thirty year old children living at home and can’t work because of “bipolar disorder”.