Social Security disability on verge of insolvency

yahoo news ^ | 5 hrs ago | By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

[DeaconBenjamin]

Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security's disability program, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.

Applications are up nearly 50 percent over a decade ago as people lose their jobs and can't find new ones in an economy that has shed nearly 7 million jobs.

Much of the focus in Washington has been on fixing Social Security's retirement system. The trustees who oversee Social Security urge Congress to shore up the disability system by reallocating money from the retirement program, just as lawmakers did in 1994.

This year, about 3.3 million people are expected to apply for federal disability benefits. That's 700,000 more than in 2008 and 1 million more than a decade ago.

The disability program is also being hit by an aging population — disability rates rise as people get older — as well as a system that encourages people to apply for more generous disability benefits rather than waiting until they qualify for retirement.

Retirees can get full Social Security benefits at age 66, a threshold gradually rising to 67. Early retirees can get reduced benefits at 62. However, if you qualify for disability, you can get full benefits, based on your work history, even before 62.

Today, about 13.6 million people receive disability benefits through Social Security or Supplemental Security Income. Social Security is for people with substantial work histories, and monthly disability payments average $927. Supplemental Security Income does not require a work history but it has strict limits on income and assets. Monthly SSI payments average $500.

Last year, Social Security detected $1.4 billion in overpayments to disability beneficiaries, mostly to people who got jobs and no longer qualified, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

www.ssa.gov/disability/

www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12375

www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-724

[BenKenobi]

I remember when I went to university. I was encouraged to go to the disability resource centre and work with them wrt accommodations. As I’m deaf, there’s nothing they could do other than notetakers to assist me.

Which is fine, because that’s all I wanted and needed. The problem was that I ended up having to pay notetakers out of pocket. They were always late, and slow in paying, that by the time they paid for the first week, the first semester was finished.

It was later on I started asking some questions. 85 percent of the disabled students at most universities have ADHD. So that should tell you right off the top how much money is being wasted.

[danielmryan]

I have a good job and I’m thankful to the Good Lord for it.

But it breaks my heart to hear this.

It's a spirit-breaker, all right.

[wmfights]

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a Federal income supplement program funded by general tax revenues (not Social Security taxes):

Doesn't much matter they are all going broke. It's just some are getting there quicker than others. Programs like this exist because there is no control on our money. We have a fiat currency instead of one limited by a required reserve.

The "separate" SS fund is filled with Treasuries. IOW, the SS taxes buy these notes and the money is then used in the general fund. It is only slightly different than all the underfunded defined benefit pensions in the private sector. The difference being the govt can just print money when it runs out.

[GOPJ]

You're prepared - that's good. Most people have not made arrangements to support elderly parents when they lose their Social Security. Or - like in your case - family members who really are disabled.

When the system is bankrupted, the gangbangers, HIV positive ( but not sick), drug addicts, alcoholics, folks with out of control tempers - will just move on to new victims.

There will be much misery in the future caused by this - and it will all sit at the feet of democrats.

[GOPJ]

You're prepared - that's good. Most people have not made arrangements to support elderly parents when they lose their Social Security. Or - like in your case - family members who really are disabled.

When the system is bankrupted, the gangbangers, HIV positive ( but not sick), drug addicts, alcoholics, folks with out of control tempers - will just move on to new victims.

There will be much misery in the future caused by this - and it will all sit at the feet of democrats.

[magellan]

The ADA should have eliminated large amounts of claims for permanent disability. By outlawing discrimination in the workplace of those with disabilities, and requiring public accommodations to include mass transit, there are little reasons someone with a major physical permanent disability cannot work.

I once met a software developer who had a masters in computer science from MIT. He was one of the top developers in my company. He was also blind, and had been most or all of his life. He wasn't on disability. He wasn't making pencils. He was making six figures.

Even psychological disabilities should be decreasing due to new drug treatments for psychological disorders.

[VBobier]

No SSI is not going broke, that is impossible and could be called a Lie, SSI is not Social Security, It's Supplemental Security Income, It comes from the same money as the Military gets, Not from any SSA type Trust Fund.

The Social Security Administration manages the SSI program. Even though Social Security manages the program, SSI is not paid for by Social Security taxes. SSI is paid for by U.S. Treasury general funds, not the Social Security trust funds.