Everyday I read how millions of people are abusing and defrauding Social Security. To hear the crusading "journalists" tell it, almost anyone who is too lazy to work can fill out a form, hire a lawyer, and get a disability check in the mailbox. According the these "journalists," it helps to have a crooked lawyer and a crooked doctor." It's just that easy, so they say.
To provide a more balanced picture, I want to tell you about "Eddie," whom I represented a while back. ("Eddie" is not is real name; I never use my client's real identities).
Eddie came to me after being diagnosed with two types of cancer. He had his bladder and prostate removed and was on chemotherapy, which was the kind they call "shake and bake," because of its severe side effects. Eddie was wearing a urostomy bag to collect urine and it required constant care.
The Disability Determination Service denied Eddie's claim after about 4 months, stating that while he couldn't perform his past work, there was certainly other work he could still perform. We promptly appealed and asked for a hearing. We waited 18 months to get a hearing.
Near the end of the 18 months, Eddie's cancer spread to his lymphatic system and doctors tried more aggressive chemotherapy. It didn't work. The doctors gave Eddie less than 6 months to live.
I had applied for an on-the-record decision (without a hearing), which the administrative law judge denied. We continued waiting for a hearing. Long before the hearing could be scheduled Eddie died. Neither he nor his surviving family members ever collected a cent in benefits (other than the $255 one-time death benefit).
This is not an isolated incident. People die all the time waiting on Social Security to give them a hearing.
So, when I read about some egg-headed journalist writing about how it's just too easy to get Social Security benefits, and how millions of able bodied people are ripping off "the taxpayers," I want to tell them about Eddie. He was forced to pay into the Social Security Trust Fund all of his working life. When he was dying and needed a little income, Social Security let him down.
One final bone to pick: Social Security disability benefits are not financed by "the taxpayers." It is a self-financing program, funded by money that workers pay into their accounts through deductions from their paychecks. These contributions are provided for by the Federal Insurance Contributions Act or FICA. Look at your paycheck stub. Notice the deduction for FICA. That's Social Security deductions. Your employer matches it dollar-for-dollar. When you file a Social Security claim, you are merely trying to collect benefits on an insurance plan mandated by the US government and financed by your own mandatory contributions to the Social Security Trust Fund. No "taxpayers" involved, except the person filing the claim.
Social Security doesn't always perform this poorly. Sometimes, they do make the right call. All too often, however, a claimant has to wait years for a decision. He or she will be examined, re-examined, questioned, and interrogated. By the time any benefit is ever paid, the poor claimant has been screened like a patio door.
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