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I watched this tonight, it pretty much backs up what I have posted here and at other boards. The system is over-run with fraud. The statute reads "if you can work any job, you are not qualified for disability". It is sad what society has become.
This week, Steve Kroft reported on the U.S. disability fund, which is on track to become the first government entitlement program to run out of cash.
Kroft and his team, 60 Minutes producers James Jacoby and Michael Karzis, found that the disability program has become a "secret welfare system."
"A lot of it is just people gaming the system," says Kroft. "If you're 50 years old and you've got a bad back, what are you going to do? Are you going to try and take a minimum wage job with no health insurance? Or are you going to try and get on disability?"
When it began back in the 50s, the disability fund was a small program, intended only for people who were unable to work because of illness or injury. Today, the 60 Minutes team reported, the disability fund serves nearly 12 million people, up 20 percent in the last six years alone. But perhaps the most surprising figure in Kroft's story is the overall size of the program: it has a budget of $135 billion -- more than the government spent last year on the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the Labor Department combined.
Why the sudden surge in disabled people in this country? Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who is leading a Senate investigation of the disability program, says millions of people are gaming the system:
What happens when the U.S. disability fund runs dry? - 60 Minutes Overtime - CBS News
This week, Steve Kroft reported on the U.S. disability fund, which is on track to become the first government entitlement program to run out of cash.
Kroft and his team, 60 Minutes producers James Jacoby and Michael Karzis, found that the disability program has become a "secret welfare system."
"A lot of it is just people gaming the system," says Kroft. "If you're 50 years old and you've got a bad back, what are you going to do? Are you going to try and take a minimum wage job with no health insurance? Or are you going to try and get on disability?"
When it began back in the 50s, the disability fund was a small program, intended only for people who were unable to work because of illness or injury. Today, the 60 Minutes team reported, the disability fund serves nearly 12 million people, up 20 percent in the last six years alone. But perhaps the most surprising figure in Kroft's story is the overall size of the program: it has a budget of $135 billion -- more than the government spent last year on the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the Labor Department combined.
Why the sudden surge in disabled people in this country? Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who is leading a Senate investigation of the disability program, says millions of people are gaming the system:
What happens when the U.S. disability fund runs dry? - 60 Minutes Overtime - CBS News