[blindlaw] Social Security Disability Benefits face cuts in 2016N.Y. Times

[Nicole Askins]

I understand the economy is in trouble, I get it!! But, this is a much
larger issue. In that, like someone else said assuring that individuals
with disabilities have access to jobs that would sustain us. Or prevention
waste through red tape and too much administration. Perhaps then, cost
could be cut. But if we continue to do governmental business as usual of
course we will run out of money because it just does not make sense the way
that the Social Security Administration runs. They respond to lawsuits
better than they respond to the actual needs of those they are employed to
serve.

How about instead of reducing benefits by 19 percent you reduce
administrative waste customer fraud and other abuse by 19 percent then see
if it makes a difference.
On Jul 23, 2015 6:58 PM, "Charles Krugman via blindlaw" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> As one who represents claimants in attempting to procure benefits perhaps
> they would save needed money if they granted claims in a timely manner and
> had realistic views of the pain and suffering that many applicants go
> through in waiting years to get a favorable award. I have one claimant who
> is still waiting after 7 years.
> Chuck
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Ross A. Doerr via blindlaw
> Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2015 12:36 PM
> To: 'Blind Law Mailing List'
> Cc: Ross A. Doerr
> Subject: [blindlaw] Social Security Disability Benefits face cuts in
> 2016N.Y. Times
>
> I have copied and pasted the text of a N.Y. Times article about the SSDI
> trust fund running low in 2016. I hpe I did not miss anything.
>
> IF this didn't come through very well to the list, it is on line via a
> simple google search.
>
> I see this topic come up every election season. What I find interesting
> this
> time is that they are predicting a 19% drop in benefits if the issue is not
> addressed in a substantive way, and as usual, it is the Democrats v.
> Republicans.
>
> Much of this is familiar - do something more about the fraud in the SSDI
> system and do something more to help recipients go back to work.
>
> If they'd just make sure we could get jobs that pay a living wage we
> wouldn't need. never mind.
>
> So, as I read the article below, Those on SSDI will, if nothing is done,
> get a 19% reduction in benefits. Will employees at the SSA get a 19%
> reduction in pay to ensure that the savings to the program is maximized?
>
> This concludes my rant and cheap shots for the day.
>
> Ross
>
>
>
> ***
>
> Social Security Disability Benefits Face Cuts in 2016, Trustees Say - The
> New York Times
>
> July 22, 2015
>
> By ROBERT PEAR
>
>
>
> WASHINGTON - Eleven million people face a deep, abrupt cut in disability
> insurance benefits in late 2016 if Congress fails to replenish Social
> Security's disability trust fund, which is running out of money, the Obama
> administration said Wednesday.
>
> Officials expressed concern about the program as they issued their annual
> report on the financial condition of Medicare and Social Security, which
> together account for about 40 percent of all federal spending.
>
> The trustees of Social Security, including three cabinet secretaries, said
> the disability trust fund would be depleted in the last quarter of 2016.
> After that, they said, benefits would automatically be cut by 19 percent
> because revenues, largely from payroll taxes, would be sufficient to cover
> only 81 percent of scheduled benefit payments.
>
> The report sets up a fight between President Obama and Republicans in
> Congress. Mr. Obama wants to replenish the disability trust fund by
> shifting
> some payroll tax revenues from Social Security's retirement trust fund.
>
> Republicans, however, want more significant changes to improve the
> program's
> finances. These changes could include reductions in disability benefits,
> restrictions on eligibility, new measures to combat fraud or new strategies
> to help people return to work. In January, Republicans adopted a new rule
> in
> the House that could block a direct reallocation of money at the expense of
> the trust fund that provides benefits for retirees.
>
> The White House acknowledged the financial problems of the disability
> program in a separate report issued last week by Jeffrey D. Zients,
> director
> of the National Economic Council, and Shaun Donovan, the president's budget
> director.
>
> The trustees, in their report, said that the squeeze on the disability
> program was "but the first manifestation of larger financial imbalances
> facing Social Security as a whole, as well as Medicare."
>
> They predicted that Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund would be
> exhausted in 2030, the same as projected last year.
>
> While trustees say the Social Security retirement fund will remain solvent
> through 2035, the disability insurance fund is expected to run out of money
> late next year.
>
>
>
> Combined fund
>
> Retirement fund
>
> Disability Insurance fund
>
> Years
>
> 40
>
> 30
>
> 20
>
> 10
>
> '95
>
> '05
>
> '95
>
> '05
>
> '95
>
> '05
>
> '15
>
> '15
>
> '15
>
> Year of projection
>
>
>
> Combined fund
>
> 30 years
>
> 20
>
> 10
>
> '95
>
> '05
>
> '15
>
> Year of projection
>
> Retirement fund
>
> 40 years
>
> 30
>
> 20
>
> 10
>
> '95
>
> '05
>
> '15
>
> Year of projection
>
> Disability Insurance fund
>
> 30 years
>
> 20
>
> 10
>
> '95
>
> '05
>
> '15
>
> Year of projection
>
> Sources: Social Security Administration, Congressional Research Service
>
> JULY 22, 2015
>
> By Kim Soffen
>
> And they said that the reserves of Social Security's retirement and
> disability trust funds, taken in combination, would be depleted in 2034,
> one
> year later than projected in 2014. After that, the report said, income to
> the trust funds would still allow Social Security to pay about
> three-fourths
> of scheduled benefits for 50 years.
>
> Though often considered together, the trust funds for retirees and disabled
> workers are "distinct legal entities that operate independently," the
> trustees said. Officials cannot divert money from one to the other unless
> Congress explicitly authorizes such a shift, as it has done several times
> in
> the past.
>
> The most recent reallocation of the Social Security payroll tax occurred in
> the mid-1990s, when Congress bolstered the disability trust fund, according
> to the Congressional Research Service. But money has sometimes been shifted
> in the other direction.
>
> Disability insurance is a fundamental part of Social Security. Most
> beneficiaries were earning middle incomes, averaging a little more than
> $42,000 a year, when they became disabled, officials said. Benefits average
> $14,000 a year.
>
> The shortage of money in the disability trust fund should not be a
> surprise,
> experts said. It reflects demographic factors like the aging of baby
> boomers
> into their 50s and 60s and the increase in the number of women in the labor
> force, which makes them eligible for disability insurance, they said.
> Another factor, they said, is improper payments to some people who are not
> disabled.
>
> Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, the manager of the two trust funds, said
> the reallocation of revenue proposed by Mr. Obama was "a common sense
> solution to improve the solvency" of the disability fund.
>
> The trustees' report said that "some reallocation of resources between the
> two trust funds" was necessary but not sufficient. Congress, they said,
> should take other, unspecified steps to address the long-term financial
> problems of the trust funds.
>
> Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, the chairman of the Senate
> Finance Committee, said that "reshuffling funds," as proposed by Mr. Obama,
> was no solution to the serious fiscal problems documented in the report.
>
> Social Security officials said they did not expect to provide a
> cost-of-living adjustment to Social Security beneficiaries in 2016,
> although
> that could change, depending on changes in consumer prices over the next
> few
> months.
>
> The report projects a big increase in Medicare premiums for about 30
> percent
> of the 55 million people who have health insurance through the program
> because of complex rules meant to protect the other 70 percent. The
> standard
> premium for the unprotected group is expected to rise to $159.30 a month in
> 2016, from the current level of $104.90. For the highest-income
> beneficiaries, the report shows premiums rising above $500 a month in 2016,
> from $335 this year.
>
> The report assumes that 70 percent of beneficiaries will be "held
> harmless."
> Most people on Medicare have premiums deducted from their monthly Social
> Security checks. Under federal law, their premiums cannot rise more than
> the
> dollar amount of the cost-of-living increase in their Social Security
> checks. So if there is no inflation adjustment in Social Security, their
> Medicare premiums would not increase.
>
> But Medicare will still need more money to pay doctors, and the government
> could increase premiums for the 30 percent of beneficiaries who do not have
> protection. Administration officials said they had policy options to avoid
> huge increases and would decide on 2016 premiums in October of this year.
>
> Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, said
> the
> Affordable Care Act had extended the life of Medicare's hospital insurance
> trust fund by 13 years. The law reduced the growth of Medicare payments to
> many health care providers. Under prior law, officials estimated that the
> trust fund would be depleted in 2017.
>
> Medicare spent an average of $12,430 per beneficiary last year, up 2
> percent
> from 2013, the report said. The total includes $4,900 for hospitals and
> other institutions, $5,400 for doctors and other outpatient services, and
> $2,100 for prescription drugs.
>
>
>
> A version of this article appears in print on July 23, 2015, on page A15 of
> the New York edition with the headline: Disability Benefits Face Cuts in
> '16, Trustees Say.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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