By: Les Dunaway
Any student of history knows that rampant corruption is one of the symptoms of a country in decline. When the corruption is encouraged by the government of the country, one must wonder how far the rot has spread and whether it’s spreading up or oozing down.
The programs to recruit more illegal aliens to various welfare programs, to coach people on how to appear to qualify for food stamps, subsidized home loans and, most recently, Obamacare and others are well known to those who get their information from other than state-run media. One program which has grown far more than seems reasonable is Medicare Disability.
It seems unlikely that a much larger proportion of the population would become disabled, in just five years. However, in Saturday Jan 11th’s WSJ, I found an article by Kimberly Strassel Grand Theft Disability which brings to light the explanation.
The article begins New York tabloids are having a field day with the news that dozens of ex-cops have been charged with scamming as What’s remarkable about all this is that it’s merely an extreme example of what has been happening across the country. Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs issued an amazing report last October describing how a Kentucky-based disability law firm colluded with a Social Security administrative law judge to abuse the program. as $400 million in Social Security disability benefits. The bigger outrage is that this grand taxpayer theft went undetected for two decades and is merely part of the national scandal that the disability program has become.
It goes on to describe other instances with a common theme – less-than-virtuous people recruited by corrupt government officials to scam a program meant to help citizens in need; meant to be part of the safety net. I did a little googling and found several more articles (links below) and an important conundrum.
Despite that the scamming of Medicaid Disability system seems to be well known in Washington and, in fact, has been investigated, nothing has been done.
The WSJ article continues What’s remarkable about all this is that it’s merely an extreme example of what has been happening across the country. Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs issued an amazing report last October describing how a Kentucky-based disability law firm colluded with a Social Security administrative law judge to abuse the program.
The membership of that committee are here. If your Senator is on the list, I encourage you to ask them WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT! I’d also encourage you to google about your state. Reading these articles reveals that this situation, unlike most we hear of today, is more a product of local corruption than of Washington malfeasance.
However, the usual case of Washington creating a program which spends taxpayer dollars and then failing to implement proper controls or oversight. What do you know about the administrative law judges in your state? Do you know how they get the job; who’s supposed to watch them? Have Medicare Disability claims / awards increased? Are there newspaper or internet or radio ads offering assistance with your disability claim? I plan to learn the answers to those questions. I hope you will too.