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

[Michal Nowicki]

Hi All,

I like the NFB proposal to reform SSDI.  The problem with SSDI is that
unlike SSI, it is an all or nothing program.  That is, if your income goes
over the limit, you automatically lose all your benefits.  Consequently,
there is often no insentive for SSDI recipients to work at their full
potential because while their earnings may be higher, their net income is
often lower as a result of loss of benefits.

Best,

Michal

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Nicole
Askins via blindlaw
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2015 6:06 PM
To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>; Charles Krugman
<ckrugman at sbcglobal.net>
Cc: Nicole Askins <njaskins at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Social Security Disability Benefits face cuts in
2016N.Y. Times

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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