The President is trying to figure out a way to avoid a 20% cut for disability beneficiaries. As noted in my earlier posts on this subject, that is what is going to happen as soon as next year unless something changes.
President Obama’s proposals are measured and reasonable. Which means, of course, they have no chance to become law. But here is what he is suggesting:
• Reallocate some of the FICA money employees pay from retirement to disability. Obama is not suggesting an overall increase in the rate. Rather, he wants to move some it from retirement to disability.
• Try to keep more people working. This would involve providing incentives to employers to accommodate worker’s limitations.
• Hire more administrative law judges and streamlining the appeals process. The backlog of people waiting for hearings on their disability claims has passed one million. This is not going to get better until more judges are hearing more cases.
• Provide greater funding for continuing disability reviews (CDR’s). It is logical that the more people SSA examine to determine if they are disabled, the more people will leave the program. Right now, it is very rare for SSA to terminate anyone’s disability benefits. If people have gotten better and should be working, let’s help guide those people in the right direction.
• Offset any other government benefits from monthly disability payments. President Obama would like to reduce, dollar for dollar, disability benefits by such things as unemployment benefits. This could prove to be controversial. But, it is worth at least considering.
I assume that Congress will wait until the very last minute before dealing with these pending cuts for disability benefits. Let’s hope that they when finally get around to taking it up, at least some of the President’s proposals are part of the solution.
Obama Juggles the Numbers to Save Social Security Disability Benefits
