Disability is a $260 Billion Scam, Mostly Against the Disabled

 Part I

Omar Gonzalez spent a year telling friends that the government was trying to spy on him.  He was sure people were trying to break into his home.  He put his cell phone in a microwave.  Gonzalez would have been just one more increasingly crazy street person, until September 19^, 2014 when he decided he had to tell President Obama that the atmosphere was collapsing.  At that point, Omar became the luckiest man in America.  I can imagine no other explanation for why he is not dead.  Mr. Gonzalez, armed with a knife, leaped over the fence at the White House.  Despite the presence of Secret Service personnel, trained guard dogs, locks, barriers, and snipers all evidently on stand down because—well—force is so…so…Republican, Gonzalez sprinted across the lawn, and through the North Portico door.  He over-powered a guard at the door, ran through the foyer and on into the East Room where he was finally subdued.  Thankfully, he ignored a staircase that led directly to the living quarters of the Obama family. 

            This was an impressive display of broken field running for a man receiving disability because of a bad foot.  Omar’s disability comes from the military and that is a different matter, but it did get me thinking about the skyrocketing civilian disability enrollment that America is now facing.  We do have people who rightly deserve disability payments; I am not talking about those people.  But, over the last 30 years, we the people have created a monster that does not serve the truly disabled, costs us $260 billion each year and sucks the dignity, productivity and self-worth out of our citizens. 

            The national average of workplace disability is 4.6%.  Utah has the lowest with 2.9%; West Virginia the highest with 9%.   None of these people, by the way, are considered, “unemployed” so they make employment figures look better.  That is a win for the federal government but a real loss for taxpayers. 

The number of former workers who are now on disability keeps rising (from 2.5 million to 8 million since 1995), despite better medical care for all of us and stricter laws prohibiting discrimination against the disabled. 

            There is no medical diagnosis called, “disability.”  As far as the government is concerned you are disabled if you have a condition that keeps you from working.  But for every person who tells me they are on disability, I can show you one with the same physical condition that holds a job.  For Heaven’s sake, I saw a man with an artificial leg operating a logging truck!  The difference in most cases is not the ability to work but the will to work.  Life is neither easy nor pain free for anyone.  We all play injured.  It is part of the human condition.  There is a part of me that wants to say, “Stop whining!” but I digress.

            Since 1995 the number of people on welfare has dropped from 5 to 2 million.  During that same time the number of people on disability has grown from 2 to 7 million.  All of this has been accomplished by states such as Missouri who hire private companies like Public Consulting Group to move people from welfare (which the states must pay for) to disability (which the Federal government pays for).  The state of Missouri pays PCG a bounty of $2300 for each person moved to disability and saves money in the process. 

            It is legal, but it isn’t right, and it costs much more than money.  

Part II

The idea of helping people disabled by accident or illness is a good plan.  It allows us to both express our better angels and give back some of the benefits which come from living in the richest country in the world.  But the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and a bureaucracy is Hell incarnate.

            I doubt that the first plans for disability payments included the possibility, nor even the probability, of spending $260 billion per year on 14 million people.  But there is no, “Murphy’s Law” addendum added to legislation.  While you may want to do good, others just want to do well.

            The types of diagnoses that make up disability have changed a great deal.  In 1961 heart disease topped the charts with 25% of all disabled.  By 2011 that group only made up 10% of disabled individuals, and had fallen to third place.  In contrast, 1961 back problems were next to the bottom of the list with 8%, now they make up 34% of the disabled, followed by mental/emotional disorders at 19% as opposed to the 10% they were in 1961.  Cancer, respiratory diseases and diabetes maintain their positions near the bottom of both lists.  Do you notice that conditions that are hard to fake are either staying or drifting near the bottom?  There is a lesson here. 

Disability is also being used as a substitute for unemployment.  Historically, the two conditions rose and fell in unison until about 2004.  At that time, disability claims began to rise steadily.  In many instances, when a major employer closed, people were guided into disability instead of unemployment. 

And that leads us to the wickedest scam of all.  It is the Supplemental Security System is a program for people who are both disabled and poor.  Two-thirds of all the children in this program are also diagnosed with learning disabilities.  Every learning disabled child is worth an additional $700 to his family.  If the school and child do well and start demonstrating grade-level mastery, the family loses its paycheck.  Parents don’t want that, so they sabotage the child’s success.  Has anyone ever done a study to see what we are buying with that $700 per month per child? 

But I don’t like to complain without offering solutions, so here goes.  First, suspend all of those $700 child credits going directly to the parents.  Instead, use the same amount of money to operate after school academies for these students.  Give them a hot meal, certified teachers and one-on-one supervised study, homework, and enrichment opportunities.  If you are trying to solve a learning problem, spend the money of education.

Second, eliminate all disability payments to people whose lifestyle creates disabilities.  If you wracked up your car and hurt your back while driving under the influence, that one is on you.  If you smoke, your lung problems are yours.  If your diabetes is caused by too much weight, tough, eat less and exercise more.

Finally, put an actuarial test to these disabilities.  If most people can function with your complaint, so should you.  We have people all over this country that work with high blood pressure, diabetes, pain, heart and surgical concerns.  Everybody gets depressed; everybody gets panicked, work anyway.  

Now, here is the up side.  We keep spending the $260 billion, but we divide it up among the people who truly are disabled.  They get more.  Each year we weed out more malingerers and we give more money to those left.  America gets more workers (reluctant workers, but that may change); the deserving get more money; taxpayers aren’t subsidizing shirkers.  Win.  Win.  Win.

Cut the waste and keep the faith.