Fraud And Disability Equal A Multibillion Dollar Black Hole For Taxpayers

[LeftishBrit]

12. This sounds like an attempt to soften the public to accept cuts in disability

benefits, and treatment of disabled people as likely to be 'undeserving', because a few may be fraudulent. It's already happening in the UK.

Fraud will always exist; but this particular form is rare. In the UK, statistics suggest that only 0.03% of incapacity benefit claims are fraudulent. But due to the media attacks, most people surveyed estimate it as around 20 to 25% - a gross overestimate.

Assuming that the USA is not enormously more generous than Britain and other countries (and I see no signs that it is), the likely reason why many claims are accepted at the appeals process rather than earlier, is that the initial assessment system is set up to reject claims if at all possible to do so. You have to seriously prove your case before you have any eligibility for benefits.

Our media and government are promoting harshness toward disabled people and other benefit claimants. Please do not get taken in by similar nastiness in your country. Our chief government proponent of the onslaught on sick and disabled benefit claimants, Iain Duncan-Smith, once co-authored an article on 'compassionate conservativism' with Rick Santorum. It's obvious that our righties are in cahoots.

See this article:

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/archives/18638