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Great 60 Minutes Piece on Social Security Disability Benefits

DeaconCav06

DeaconCav06

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[video]http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50156574n[/video]

60 Minutes did a great piece on the explosion of Social Security Disability Benefits and the industry that surrounds it. As a former employee of the Social Security Administration I can say that this piece is right on the money.
 
I saw that last night. It was indeed a great piece -- and very troubling. The complicity of the doctors and even the Administrative Law Judges in some cases was particularly disturbing.
 
You can't make up that a guy named Conn is gaming the system. LOL

Why on earth does the government pay a private attorney's attorney fees?

The same kind of crap with shady lawyers happens in the immigration realm, only they're usually gaming the immigrants in those cases, as opposed to the law. When they do engage in widespread fraud, however, it is bad and usually readily detectable. Problem is it takes months to compile evidence and make a case on those turkeys, and in the meantime their clients-- who are often blameless-- get fucked big time when it all comes down.
 
The government isn't really paying the attorney's fees directly. When you apply for disability you get benefits from the date of your original application. So if you're initially denied and then two years later win an appeal you get two years of back benefits at once.

The attorney's fees are a percentage of this amount with a statutory cap depending on what level the appeal goes to before getting approved.

Of course, the SSA sets quotas of how many cases should be processed per office. So the average approval takes less than 4 hours to draft an opinion letter because who cares why you're approving the case but the average denial takes more than 8 hours since it will likely be appealed.

At the end of the month if the numbers are low a helluva lot more approvals come down the pipe than denials.
 
DeaconCav06 said:
The government isn't really paying the attorney's fees directly. When you apply for disability you get benefits from the date of your original application. So if you're initially denied and then two years later win an appeal you get two years of back benefits at once.

The attorney's fees are a percentage of this amount with a statutory cap depending on what level the appeal goes to before getting approved.

Of course, the SSA sets quotas of how many cases should be processed per office. So the average approval takes less than 4 hours to draft an opinion letter because who cares why you're approving the case but the average denial takes more than 8 hours since it will likely be appealed.

At the end of the month if the numbers are low a helluva lot more approvals come down the pipe than denials.
Click to expand...

Sounds very familiar. Same shit with immigration.
 
I handle worker's comp and general liabilty for a fairly large company, and we have our share of 100% bogus claims for both comp and vehicle accidents. We have several hundred vehicles on the road per day; couldn't tell you how many times we've literally had bumpers scrape each other in a parking lot and after the "victim" sees our name on the side door they call for an ambulance. People like that make it tough on everyone, in particular those with legit claims.
 
My firm does disability work and we got this email from NOSSCR

Outrageous. Inaccurate. Misleading. One-sided. If you saw 60 Minutes' egregious broadcast on the Social Security disability programs last night, you are probably thinking the same thing. NOSSCR will be releasing a statement to media shortly. We are also working very closely with the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) to generate fact-checks and positive media responses.

We need your help to tell CBS that they got the story wrong and to defend the program against further media attacks. Here's what you can do:
1. Tell 60 Minutes that they got the story wrong! The response provides multiple talking points to draw from. Leave a comment on 60 Minutes' website here: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50156574n
2. In addition to posting a comment, we also encourage you to email 60 Minutes directly with your criticism of the report (address emails to Bill Owens, Executive Editor): 60m@cbsnews.com
3. Be sure to follow NOSSCR on Twitter (@nosscrnews) and Facebook and share some of the media coverage that is coming out against the story (We've already posted positive stories from the LA Times, Media Matters for America, and the Center for Economic Policy Research). Like, share and retweet to tell your family and friends the truth about the piece.
4. Send us positive client stories! The more positive, supportive client stories we can disseminate, the better. Email client stories to Lauren Weybrew, lweybrew@douglasgould.com.
5. Be prepared to respond to additional negative media coverage you may see as a result of the 60 Minutes piece. We will be following up in the coming days with sample letters to the editor and other materials to submit responses to derivative media coverage that may run.
Thanks for your help as we fight this wave of misleading media coverage and protect the Social Security disability system from further attacks.

Barbara R. Silverstone
NOSSCR
 
DeaconCav06 said:
The government isn't really paying the attorney's fees directly. When you apply for disability you get benefits from the date of your original application. So if you're initially denied and then two years later win an appeal you get two years of back benefits at once.

The attorney's fees are a percentage of this amount with a statutory cap depending on what level the appeal goes to before getting approved.
Click to expand...

It's pretty much a total crapshoot (from what I've seen) how much the gov't pays out too. Attorneys draft a petition documenting their work, send it in, and the gov't says ok you get this much and you'll like it. I've seen numbers all over the place.
 
wake20 said:
My firm does disability work and we got this email from NOSSCR

Outrageous. Inaccurate. Misleading. One-sided.If you saw 60 Minutes' egregious broadcast on the Social Security disability programs last night, you are probably thinking the same thing. NOSSCR will be releasing a statement to media shortly. We are also working very closely with the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) to generate fact-checks and positive media responses.

We need your help to tell CBS that they got the story wrong and to defend the program against further media attacks. Here's what you can do:
1. Tell 60 Minutes that they got the story wrong! The response provides multiple talking points to draw from. Leave a comment on 60 Minutes' website here: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50156574n
2. In addition to posting a comment, we also encourage you to email 60 Minutes directly with your criticism of the report (address emails to Bill Owens, Executive Editor): 60m@cbsnews.com
3. Be sure to follow NOSSCR on Twitter (@nosscrnews) and Facebook and share some of the media coverage that is coming out against the story (We've already posted positive stories from the LA Times, Media Matters for America, and the Center for Economic Policy Research). Like, share and retweet to tell your family and friends the truth about the piece.
4. Send us positive client stories! The more positive, supportive client stories we can disseminate, the better. Email client stories to Lauren Weybrew, lweybrew@douglasgould.com.
5. Be prepared to respond to additional negative media coverage you may see as a result of the 60 Minutes piece. We will be following up in the coming days with sample letters to the editor and other materials to submit responses to derivative media coverage that may run.
Thanks for your help as we fight this wave of misleading media coverage and protect the Social Security disability system from further attacks.

Barbara R. Silverstone
NOSSCR
Click to expand...


Jackie_Chiles_in_The_Maestro_Seinfeld.JPG


It's outrageous. Egregious. Preposterous.
 
lots of figures thrown around that are ultimately matters of opinion, without offering definitions and underlying reasonings for those opinions.
 
I've never understood the belief that its someone's god given right to be a {insert job here} and, if you are hurt, you deserve disability. There are plenty of other professions out there that do not exacerbate your ailment.
 
NOSSCR telling people the 60M piece was misleading, on-sided, inaccurate, etc, is like Walter White doing a PSA to discourage meth use.
 
Stan Gable said:
I've never understood the belief that its someone's god given right to be a {insert job here} and, if you are hurt, you deserve disability. There are plenty of other professions out there that do not exacerbate your ailment.
Click to expand...

That's not how it works. They have vocational experts testify based on that person's perceived abilities.
 
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