I guess some politicians and bureaucrats never get tired of banging the fraud and abuse drum when it comes to Social Security. I guess when conservative members of the press are complicit with also feeding the fraud and abuse fire, it may be sometime before this assertion is finally put to rest. For all the stories we see about fraud and abuse within the Social Security disability programs, we can offer cold hard facts that show there is very little fraud and abuse within the system. In fact, we have pointed out numerous times there is much more fraud and abuse within the Department of Defense, but we don’t read countless stories on that, do we?
Another House Subcommittee recently held a hearing about “protecting Social Security from waste, fraud and abuse,” and believe it or not, there was actually a voice of reason from the committee. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D) actually defended Social Security’s principals and suggested that it may just be possible that Social Security needs more funding to better provide the valuable services that millions of Americans count on every year.
“In my six years as a ranking member of this subcommittee, not once have we held a hearing on SSA’s operating budget,” he said.
As an increase in the operating budget is not open for discussion, Americans pay the price related to the services they seek. According to Social Security, the agency’s staff is less than it was in 2010. Average wait times are also longer than they were even before 2010 and wait times for phone services are once again getting worse. In 2013 the average person calling Social Security could expect to be on hold an average of less than 10 minutes. Today, the average wait time exceeds 15 minutes. These numbers do not exactly show a picture of progress. To learn more click here.
