Explosion of disability payouts hobble program [The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]
By Adam Smeltz, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Smith grants benefits in close to 80 percent of the
Analysts estimate each of the 292 disability awards Smith approved from October through June will cost taxpayers about
"If we don't do something, in four years it won't be able to pay full benefits," said
Smith, one of 10 local administrative law judges, declined an interview with the Tribune-Review. Federal rules keep most active law judges from talking with reporters, and disability appeal hearings are closed to the public.
"The whole procedure may have made sense 20 years ago, when most people were honest and didn't know about" the disability program, said
Judges are under heavy pressure to resolve claims, and it's fastest for them to approve an appeal and move on, Bukes said. However, "no structure has been put into effect to penalize people who are granting too many."
Legislation to change the system might emerge this fall. Lawmakers want to ensure
Pushing to the brink
Left unchecked, the trends could push the program to the brink within the decade, said researcher
The rise in disability applications to 2.88 million in 2011 stems from a half-dozen sources, including the economic downturn and a surge in legal representation for applicants, Pierce said. He said lawyers earn about
Only about 20 percent of the applicants had a lawyer in the 1970s.
"Certainly, lawyers who are increasingly desperate for sources of revenue are working very hard to get the word out," said Pierce, who testified this summer before the congressional subcommittee.
States are encouraging applicants for state unemployment benefits to consider disability claims instead, shifting the tax burden to the federal budget, Pierce said.
"So there's an incentive, if you're unemployed, you're looking and desperate," to file for disability, Marlin said.
Judges began approving fewer disability appeals in recent months -- overall award rates are down about 5 percentage points from five years ago -- probably because some jobless people seek it when they don't qualify, said
"I've seen too many people end up homeless and living under bridges because
"I've had clients who were faking," Martin said. "But by and large, most people in our society -- they share the mores of our society, which places a great value on work."
Former Administrative Law Judge Lloyd King decried "this increasing drumbeat to try to demonize disability claimants." Rank-and-file
"Almost all (claimants) have to rely on support of friends and relatives," said
Growth in the number of insurance-eligible women help propel disability claims, too, according to a congressional briefing. Other driving factors might include a jump in recognized ailments, attorneys said.
Increased scrutiny
The explosion in disability has brought new attention to the once-obscure administrative law judges who each year hear 600,000 appeals.
Between 85 percent and 90 percent of the judges approve about half the appeals before them, Martin said. The rest vary. Among the 10 judges in
"How can we trust the fairness of ALJ decisions when even some of their own co-workers say that the decisions could be influenced by ... political views and personal biases?" said U.S. Rep.
The inspector general also found discrepancies in motivation, work ethic, staffing and case development through the appeals process.
The
The
"We have created new tools to focus on quality," Borland said. "Each quarter, we train our adjudicators on the most complex, error-prone provisions of law and regulation."
Still, a 2011 review by the administration identified concerns with about 22 percent of sampled award decisions by law judges and attorney adjudicators. Officials used a random pool of 3,692 decisions in that review. The review did not identify specific judges.
An internal
Split on changes
Pierce has suggested the government drop law judges from the process. He estimates their salaries and benefits cost more than
That money could go toward reviewing past awards and slashing benefits for "many thousands of beneficiaries who do not actually satisfy the standard of disability in the Social Security Act," Pierce wrote in the journal Regulation last year.
But two law judges argue the problem sits with
Bukes, the retired judge in
"People in
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