Paul's missed point The need for SSDI reform
Rand Paul, for now the second most important Republican U.S. senator from Kentucky, said something in Manchester last week that spun the gears of the left's fake outrage machine. Had he said it better, he could have made a great point.
After noting that "in all of these programs there's always somebody who's deserving," Paul said of Social Security disability benefits, "everybody in this room knows somebody who is gaming the system. What I tell people is, if you look like me and you hop out of your truck, you shouldn't be getting your disability check. Over half of the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts. Join the club. Who doesn't get up a little anxious for work every day and their back hurts? Everybody over 40 has a little back pain."
Paul made the mistake of criticizing the recipients, not the program. There absolutely is fraud. The day after Paul made his remarks, the FBI announced that a grand jury had indicted 39 people in Puerto Rico for SSDI fraud. But the big problem is not fraud, it is the way we determine eligibility.
The Washington Post reported in 2013 that between 2000 and 2012 the number of formerly employed Americans receiving SSDI benefits rose from 5 million to 8.8 million. These are people who went on disability after losing their jobs. They were fully capable of working, but were getting "disability" benefits. How can one be "disabled" when one is able to work?
As Post economics correspondent Michael Fletcher wrote, "A worker with physical impairments that are difficult to document precisely, like a bad back, can tolerate the condition while on the job but claim it as a reason to go on disability if he falls out of work for a prolonged period."
Such loose criteria are costing taxpayers billions. The need for reform is real and urgent, but Paul's clumsy formulation let that point get lost.
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Paul's missed point The need for SSDI reform