According to NPR, Congressional Lawmakers have requested an inquiry by the Government Accountability Office to investigate awards of Supplemental Security Income benefits to disabled children.

The article uses the example of a child who suffers from ADHD, which I have found to be an impairment that is incredibly difficult to win benefits on.  Most children disability cases I that I see awarded benefits are those that deal with significant mental incapacity, low IQ and developmental delay.  I also see benefits awarded on severe endocrine disorders and blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia.  These children require special care and expense. Even the maximum award of $674 doesn’t go very far in helping to care for these children.

This is a witch hunt that disgusts me.  Indigent disabled children will suffer at the hands of political pandering.

According to a Social Security press release, because of a tightening budget “Social Security field offices nationwide will close to the public 30 minutes early each day.  For example, a field office that is usually open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. will close daily at 3:30 p.m.”

According to Michael J Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security,  “Congress provided our agency with nearly $1 billion less than the President requested for our budget this fiscal year, which makes it impossible for us to provide the amount of overtime needed to handle service to the public as we have in the past.”

I’m not really certain, but I doubt that despite the hot air exchanges the Republicans will let their constituents risk missing their Social Security Checks.  CBS news is reporting that the White House is trying to calm some of the fear that President Obama’s statement’s caused when he warned that default could lead to the non-payment of benefits.

I think it is unlikely that we will get to the point of stopping payment of benefits, but isn’t it disgusting how these politicians gamble with the livelihood of our senior and disabled citizens?

While Republicans once again target attacks on programs essential for the disabled and poor like Medicaid under the guise that the programs are “ineffective,” a new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests the opposite.

“What we found in a nutshell is that having Medicaid makes a big difference in people’s lives,” said Amy Finkelstein, another MIT economist and one of the study’s principal investigators.

Read the story from NPR here.

According to the Traverse City Record-Eagle, a Michigan man “fueled by financial desperation and frustration with the Social Security Administration’s continued denial of his disability claim” rammed his van into the closed Traverse City Social Security office.

The perpetrator,  Douglas David McCallum, stated, “It was a fit of rage caused by years of being screwed over by the government.”

This is really a very sad situation.   Though I know many of you can feel his frustration, I certainly hope none of my readers would resort to such extremes.

This is a question that I hear often in my practice. While I agree with my clients who ask that rhetorical question that there really are no meaningful job opportunities available for them, Social Security does not use hire-ability as a factor in determination of disability. In fact, the regulations state that:

We will determine you are not disabled if your residual functional capacity and vocational abilities make it possible for you to do work that exists in the national economy but you remain unemployed because of…your inability to get work…lack of work in your local area…the hiring practices of employers…technological changes in the industry in which you have worked…cyclical economic conditions…no job openings for you…or…you would not actually be hired to do work you could otherwise do.

Therefore, the burden on a claimant is to prove more than the fact that is unlikely that an employer will hire him or her.  Rather, they must prove that they are actually incapable of performing work that exists in significant numbers in the national economy.

According to Bloomberg:

Cutting U.S. Social Security benefits for seniors and the disabled may cause steeper spending declines in House districts controlled by Republicans, hurting local businesses, a Bloomberg Government study found.

Republicans are likely to represent districts with more residents collecting Social Security checks for retirees or benefits for the disabled, compared with Democrats, according to the study. Curtailing the federal aid would give recipients less spending money, said Jason Arvelo, the Bloomberg Government labor analyst who wrote the report released today.

Because you are one of 728,000 Americans currently waiting to prove your case for benefits.  And that number represents an increase of 5% in pending cases in the last year according to a recent article in USA Today.

While more people are applying, Social Security has made significant progress in processing claims in the past year or two. However, it is currently taking hearing offices, on average, 367 days to process and hear cases.

I encourage you to read the article as well as the disturbing comments.  I can’t tell you how angry ignorant comments about disability claimants, such as those posted to the USA Today article, make me.  It is these type of people who cause disabled individuals to come into my office wrought with guilt and apologizing for applying for benefits that they paid for over their working career.  I can’t help but wonder how these commentators’ tune would change if they were struck with the tragedy of a disabling disease or injury.

Charles Hall has reported on his informative blog that the Social Security Inspector General has issued a memo to launch an investigation into “Outlier ALJ” decisions. You can read the press release here.

It is a shame, but it seems like Conservatives are once again attacking a program designed to protect the disabled, poor, and disadvantaged citizens of America.  Read this story in Salt Lake Tribune that talks about how Orrin Hatch is launching an investigation into fully favorable decisions issued by disability Administrative Law Judges.

While I agree that there are likely some minimal abuses of the system, a Congressional investigation such as this will only have a negative impact on those who really need the program.