Turning 40? Sen. Rand Paul says you can look forward to back pain in your near future, and maybe some anxiety. But don’t try to turn your ailments into a government check.
At a breakfast event Wednesday, Jan. 14 in New Hampshire, the Kentucky Republican and potential presidential candidate spoke out against a public safety net that catches too many people who don’t need help.
"The thing is, all of these programs, there’s always somebody who’s deserving. (But) everybody in this room knows somebody who is gaming the system," Paul said.
The proof? Look no further than the diagnoses landing people on disability, he added.
"Over half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts. Join the club," he said to laughter. "Who doesn’t get up a little anxious for work every day and their back hurts? Everybody over 40 has a little back pain."
Paul may be having a little fun about the aches and pains of growing older, but his comment raises serious questions about a program relied on by millions of people.Is the majority of the disability population suffering from back pain and anxiety? We decided to check the numbers.
Identifying the problem
The Social Security Administration has provided benefits to people with disabilities since President Dwight Eisenhower signed legislation in 1956. The program is intended to provide cash assistance to people who are disabled for a year or longer and cannot work or can only work menial jobs for little pay (about $1,000 a month).
The number of individuals receiving disability has been on an upward trajectory for decades. In 1970, there were less than 2 million beneficiaries; now, the program has surpassed 10 million, far outpacing U.S. population growth. Nearly two-thirds of people on disability are 50 or older.
The large growth in the program has sparked claims of waste, fraud and abuse. And indeed, several reports from the Government Accountability Office have found problems with the program, as Paul’s office pointed out.
After an audit of disability insurance in 2013, the Government Accountability Office estimated that in fiscal year 2011, the Social Security Administration made $1.29 billion in potential cash benefit overpayments to about 36,000 individuals who were working and making more than $1,100 a month (the limit to receive disability benefits).
The 36,000 people receiving improper payments, while a lot on paper, represent about 0.4 percent of all beneficiaries, the report said.
There are other ways Social Security gives out benefits to those not deserving, but paying people already working is about 72 percent of the problem, according to the Social Security Administration. Factoring that in, the GAO estimates overpayments equaled $1.62 billion, or 1.27 percent of all disability benefits, in 2011. It’s a lot of money, but the disability program is a $128 billion program.
The Government Accountability Office goes on to say the exact number of improper payments is unknown. It could be higher. Additionally, another GAO report warned the Social Security Administration’s efforts to thwart potential physician-assisted fraud are "hampered by a lack of planning, data, and coordination."
Back and anxiety
Let’s narrow in on Paul’s specific claim: "Over half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts."
This is not rooted in the official numbers. Social Security does not group people by back pain or anxiety in any of their published reports.
Instead, they track a much broader list of physical and mental ailments. What would back pain or anxiety fall under?
Sounds like daddy's boy and the war contractors he represent need to receive a lot of hurt. At the very least all of them should be unemployed and looking for honest work.
ReplyDeletePeople on disability live in poverty. Poverty is defined as living on less than $11,500 per year. people on disability get about 700-800 bucks per month. Rand Paul wants to take the disability away? The richest 1% are seeing unprecedented profits and they are paying less and less taxes every year. Rand Paul does not qualify as a human being.
ReplyDeleteTwo years ago I could not walk 30 feet without the need to find a place and then have a good cry about how bad my back hurt. I do not wish the pain on anyone but only an idiot would make light of how painful a back can be. It took me four months before I could move my right arm after the operation. I still go to the gym and use 5 lbs on my good arm and 2 lbs on my bad. 7 of my disc were operated into one. I can function but I cannot do much other. I resent Ryan from making it sound like I should be a better man.
ReplyDeleteI know a bunch of people on disability, every one of them is scamming the system. Not only do they get money from the feds they also get medicaid, food stamps, assistance housing, etc.. These Jokers really know how to scam the system and they are not living in poverty, but, two thirds of the people who work for a living today are living in poverty. Once again which lawyer you choose makes a world of difference, always use a jew lawyer their mafia owns the legal system in America.
ReplyDeleteEvery govt program is riddled with fraud. Nobody in govt cares. Their attitude is "Hey, it's not my money".
ReplyDeleteAnd for every one of you, there are 50 faking it.
ReplyDeleteWe'd have plenty of money for these programs if we'd stop handing out free schooling and free health care to illegals.
ReplyDeleteRand Paul made an observation that's genuinely humorous, but no doubt extremely conservative when it comes to the number of people who are collecting disability payments for contrived and imaginary illnesses.
ReplyDeleteSympathy to you on your back ailments and congratulations to you on cashing in on a welfare system paid for by working Americans you do not know and which (if you are anything like most welfare recipients) would not offer a word of sincere thanks if given an opportunity to do so. And become aware of the fact that if you had had the misfortune of being in the same condition 50 years ago, family members would have been forced to take care of your needs or you would have done without. Which is the way it should have been, and the way it should still be.
ReplyDeleteCarol Price I am not sure what welfare system you are talking about but I did collect my pension and I do collect social security which I paid and paid dearly because I worked for a railroad and we pay much more than people like you. I just cannot imagine your statement of 5o or 60 years ago since little has changed in that period of time. I can only presume you are very young and clearly you do not understand what nature planned. Nature planned that you would have a high chance of death in child birth and there would be a high chance that you would not even be here because someone died in child birth and you just never were. I am sure nature would not care and I know I would not care.
ReplyDelete....if your ratio is correct...how is that the fault of legitimate disability recipients? Why is it that so many people want to screw those of us who were forced to pay into a system we never asked for (Social Security) ... why do they want to screw us out of our paid-for / earned benefits? Why do people have such difficulty understanding that we paid into these systems for 35-40-45 years...precisely for the purpose of protecting against an unsafe, insecure future...and that those of us properly collecting on such a contractual relationship are simply "cashing in" on the benefits offered under the plan? How is any of that the responsibility of the legitimate receivers of these disability or retirement benefits? Why is the mismanagement of the system the legitimate recipient's responsibility? That makes no sense...be angry at the idiots who make a man who has driven off a cliff..(and survived) due to a late-life diagnosis of epilepsy...or the person who have had their legs cut off...yet every year or two they get a letter from SS demanding that they "prove" they are still disabled? The responsibility for appropriate management of the system sits with Congress and the stooges they hire to administer and deliver on the promise they have made. We simply want them to live up to their promises.
ReplyDeleteRJ O'Guillory
Author-
Webster Groves - The Life of an Insane Family
In 1969 a citizen could make $3.25 starting with Western Electric. Out of that taxes, SS and union and stock purchases were taken. The Citizen could still purchase a home and auto on credit, bread and gas cost less than a dollar and SS took great big dollars from us. Today the dollars we get back are tiny, bread cost 4, gas cost 4/3 so realize how much the money has deteriorated that we get back today..
ReplyDeleteMaybe Randy should cease the 8 and a half billion dollar welfare checks each and every damn gay to his buddies - the israeli government
ReplyDelete