According to a forthcoming report from the Social Security Administration’s inspector general, Social Security judges awarded disability benefits for 25,000 people who should not have received them, costing the government $2 billion.
In fact, approval rates for disability benefits have fallen, at every level of the process, since 2010.
What the Inspector General hasn’t reported on is the number of folks made to wait two years – and longer — to be approved for benefits and what has happened to their health, their finances and their families in the meantime. This is the “real” scandal. Those of us who represent the truly disabled know the anguish they (and their families) are living with on a daily basis. When will attention be paid to this?