Bernie Sanders Rips Republicans For Cutting Social Security For 1 Million Disabled Veterans

[ND-Dem]

54. let's see: 10,000 times less than the fraud in military contracting?

GAO Found That Error Rate In Improper Payments Of Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits Is Negligible. A FY2011 investigation by the Government Accountability Office found that improper payments of Social Security benefits that include Disability Insurance had an error rate of just 0.6 percent. [Government Accountability Office, 3/28/12]

SSA Acting Commissioner: 99 Percent Of Social Security Disability Payments Are Accurate. Then-deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration Carolyn W. Colvin testified before the House Committee on Ways and Means in January 2012 that according to the administration's data, Social Security Disability Insurance payments "are highly accurate":


Overall, our SSDI payments are highly accurate. Our most recent data show that, in FY 2010, 99.3 percent of all SSDI payments were free of an overpayment, and 99.0 percent were free of an underpayment. While we are proud of our high accuracy rate for SSDI payments, we recognize that our SSI overpayment accuracy rate falls short of that high standard. To a large extent, inaccuracy is inherent in the complex program rules and the delays in receiving income data. SSI payments can change each month due to income and resource fluctuations and changes in living arrangements. Our overpayment accuracy rate, though improving, reflects that complexity. In the SSI program, 93.3 percent of all payments were free of an overpayment, and 97.6 percent of all payments were free of an underpayment, a significant improvement from FY 2008. [House Committee on Ways and Means Testimony, 1/24/12]

Fmr. Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue: Fraud Is Less Than 1 Percent Of SSI Payments. Former Bush Administration Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue explained on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes that fraud constitutes less than 1 percent of the outlays of Supplemental Security Income, one of the federal benefit programs for individuals with disabilities. [MSNBC, All In with Chris Hayes, 4/5/13, via Mediaite]



Social Security Administration: Approval Rates For Disability Applicants Have Fallen At All Decision Levels. According to the most recent available data from the Social Security Administration, between 1999 and 2010 the award rate at all decision levels for disability claims fell from 56 percent to 34.8 percent. [Social Security Administration, July 2012]

Average Approval Rate By Appeal Judges Has Fallen Since 2009. The National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives noted that the average approval rate by Administrative Law Judges (ALJs), who review appeals for disability claims that have been denied twice, has fallen since 2009

http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/06/28/right-wing-media-miss-the-facts-on-disability-f/194669

All the materials are linked in the article.