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The problem with the Social Security Administration

The Social Security Administration must fix the disability program.

The Social Security Administration must fix the disability program.

Anyone who has been following the Social Security Administration over the past few years can tell you how much financial trouble it is in, but few have answers to how it can be fixed.

Bloomberg’s Matthew Philips took the institute’s pending insolvency to task in a recent article, first citing President Dwight Eisenhower’s desire to have the SSA be run efficiency and effectively to help “rehabilitate the disabled so that they may return to useful employment.” These days, the SSA is a far cry from Eisenhower’s desire.

One problem the SSA has is its lack of ability to return the disabled to work. Philips noted that economists say it does more to keep some capable out of the labor force than it doe to help them back in.

There are currently 11 million people on disability, with less than 1 percent reentering the workforce in 2013. While the lack of incentive to return to work hurts, what may hurt even more is the 1 million rejected disability benefit applications waiting for appeal, causing a gigantic backlog spanning the entire United States.

Social Security disability benefits are necessary for millions across the country who cannot work, but does the current system work as it is laid out? Economically, it doesn’t seem to be working very well, as millions wait for benefits, more millions are on benefits with no incentive to get off of them, all the while the SSA is trying to figure out how it can be funded into the future.

“What is especially problematic is that [SSDI] absorbs people who might otherwise work when economic conditions improve,” Stanford economist Mark Duggan told Philips.

What can be done to help the SSA avoid disaster and insolvency? The most likely scenario is diverting part of Social Security’s payroll tax revenues to avoid disability benefit cuts, but this is not a permanent solution in and of itself. Duggan said it often takes a crisis before Congress makes meaningful reform; SSA has all the making of a crisis coming to light one day.

With case hearing dates taking far longer come to fruition and political pressure to deny claims, it is more critical than ever for a claimant to hire competent attorney to represent them as they seek SSA disability benefits. The Law Offices of Harold W. Conick & Associates has more than 30 years of experience in successfully representing clients obtain their disability benefits.