Patterico's Pontifications

9/10/2012

Disability Rolls Increase Under Obama

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:35 am



Longtime reader and commenter Kevin M has a new blog, and a recent post makes an excellent point: disability claimants have soared under Obama:

President Obama likes to talk about all the jobs “created” by his administration since the recession ended in June 2009, but he clearly does not want to talk about the Disability caseload he has also created. As of April 2012, the number of added Disability claims was more than twice the number of added jobs, 4.7 million versus 2.3 million respectively. The rate has been climbing with respect to the workforce for a generation, but has accelerated recently as the workforce has declined.

Some of this is SSI Disability for (legal) workers who don’t have the required work credits to qualify tor Social Security, mostly people in the underground economy. While the amount paid by SSID isn’t much ($674), people who DO qualify for Social Security proper can get payouts exceeding $3000 per month if they have no other income or assets. These payments are for the duration of the disability, which is mostly always until Social Security proper kicks in.

Interesting. Go to Kevin’s blog for more, including source links.

21 Responses to “Disability Rolls Increase Under Obama”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (83033d)

  2. Bread and circuses.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  3. Everybody knows that this “disability” thing is mostly a fraud on the system. Once their unemployment runs out, they go to disability based on a “disability” that suddenly “unexpectedly” appears out of the ether.

    But on the other hand, if all those potential voters out there aren’t actually fraudsters, then OSHA and a whole host of other federal agencies meant to protect workers from becoming disabled are not doing their job.

    Neo (d1c681)

  4. There are circuses?

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  5. One of the best sites for analysis ont his tuff is ironman at political calculations including unique disability and employment stats. PS I am not ironman.

    http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2012/09/enabling-disability-fraud-part-2.html

    phaedruscj (dc2574)

  6. Why work when you can get paid to stay home and watch tv?
    If the money was turned off it would generate more miracles of the ‘disabled’ becoming able-bodied than any faith healer could ever hope to see.

    Icy (e4ca1c)

  7. Icy, true for some, yet there are at least *some* people actually disabled. You have to be able to separate the hostages from their captors.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  8. Just why has the Obama Justice Dept/SEC not charged any individual at MF Global for the loss/disappearance of $1.6Billion in customer funds?
    They go after pollers for reports that are adverse to The Won’s re-election, but Jon Corzine?
    Is he disabled, is that why they’ve given him a pass?
    How much of the MF Global loss has been used to Re-Elect the President?
    The new Chairman of the Senate Cmte on the Judiciary will have a full plate sitting on his table when he moves into his new office in January.

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (b8ab92)

  9. Gee, I wonder (wink, wink) how many of these are for folks whose unemployment insurance ran out (after a short 99 week run). “Don’t point, and just look casually like, but there’s another pot of gov’t money…”

    Chris (f379a3)

  10. Is it time to remind people of the Cloward & Piven strategy of transforming the nation by expanding the number of government dependents until it crushes the system? They employed the approach in NYC in the 1970’s and drove the city to bankruptcy.

    This administration creates program after program to recruit Americans into welfare, Medicare/ Medicaid, and disability rolls while hampering economic expansion – all in line with Cloward & Piven’s approach. Do we think this is all a result of an accident or stemming from our Dear Leader’s empathy for the “regular Americans”?

    in_awe (7c859a)

  11. What’s going on, or what took so long to realize this, is that there is a certain amount of subjectivity in determination of disability.

    Theoretically, that’s not supposed to exist, and determination is not supposed to be related to employment conditions.

    But there it is.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  12. Since I’m already on SocSec, where’s my DI?
    This is totally unfair.
    To the barricades, comrades!

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (b8ab92)

  13. Theoretically, that’s not supposed to exist, and determination is not supposed to be related to employment conditions.

    Determination may not be tied to the economy, but application probably is. Many people prefer to work, even if they have some difficulty. When jobs are hard to find, Plan D moves up the list of plans.

    Add to this that people over 50 get far less scrutiny, and are also generally less employable. A back problem that would require lots of documentation for a 30 year old might get a quick approval for someone over 50.

    If you’ve given up, giving up with a $2500/month check seems like a better idea.

    Yes, there is fraud, but oddly fraudsters probably are the least influenced by economic conditions.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  14. Then again, I know of a 30-something that got onto SSDI because he was “hearing voices”. It may have helped that he was banging the claim assessor. Or at least that’s the story I’m told.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  15. Good blog, Kevin.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  16. Just fixed the comment approval thing. And I’ve already got comment spam.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  17. if it’s a legitimate disability the body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down is my understanding, but then you don’t get all that sweet sweet free money

    happyfeet (f3ee52)

  18. happyfeet, well played.
    But watch out for the McCaskill campaign—they’re likely to hit you up for money, now !

    Elephant Stone (65d289)

  19. I’m currently suffering from post Olympic theme humming withdrawal.People tell me it’s annoying
    and I should see a Doctor. Do I qualify for disability? Would that be under ‘annoying’ or ‘obsessive compulsive humming ‘ ?

    pdbuttons (09ad71)

  20. Yea, same thing happened here in the ’90s when they slashed the unemployment benefits.

    scrubone (e7e0ea)

  21. And now I have a troll. Or at least troll-spam.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)


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