Several readers recently sent me copies of a news story that appeared in papers around the country. The author of that piece criticized the Social Security Administration for not updating a listing of jobs that benefit applicants might be able…
a listing of jobs that benefit applicants might be able to do instead of going on the government dole collecting disability benefits.
Here is the bottom line: any disability program is an absolute mess to manage. And the Social Security disability system is even more prone to administrative nightmares because it is, by far, the biggest such program in the country. Here is another example. I’ve got a neighbor who has a 35-year-old son with multiple sclerosis. The son uses a wheelchair and needs other forms of help. Yet, he still goes to work every day at a local Target store. At the same time, I’ve encountered thousands of people over the years who claim to be disabled because they have a bad back or sore knees.
Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS Feed | Omny Studio Let’s take that guy with the bad back. I’ll call him Frank. And we’ll say that Frank actually has some painful spinal damage. How severe should it be to qualify for disability? He had a job that required heavy lifting. He is certainly too disabled to do that kind of work anymore. But perhaps there are other less-strenuous jobs Frank can be trained to do.
Frank is upset because he is convinced he is disabled. So, he files an appeal. And after about a yearlong wait, , he eventually meets with a judge who interprets the disability rules a bit differently than the first adjudicator did, and he approves Frank’s claim. Frank has mixed emotions. He’s happy his claim has been finally approved. But he’s upset it took so long. So, he writes his member of Congress and demands that something be done to improve the process.
This call triggers a fraud investigation. More SSA adjudicators examine Frank’s claim. After interviewing Frank and obtaining updated medical records, they decide he is still legally disabled.
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