Not satisfied by denying millions of children access to medical care by vetoing the SCHIP bill, the Bush administration is doing its best to deny disabled people the benefits to which they are already entitled through the Social Security Program. Recently, The New York Times published an article describing the disastrous administrative condition of the Social Security Disability program.
The Social Security Disability Insurance program (SSDI) pays an average of $1000 per month to people who have paid Social Security payroll taxes who have become sufficiently disabled that they are unable to perform any substantial work in the national economy. That is, if a physician could work as a clerk, she would not qualify. The Supplemental Security Income program (SSI) pays $637 per month to similarly disabled people who have contributed minimally or not at all to the Social Security program. Both programs are administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA).
About 2.5 million people file disability applications each year. About two thirds of those are initially rejected. More than 575 thousand of those rejected file appeals, which are heard by specialized Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) who approve about two thirds of the appeals. But since Bush came to office, the backlog of people awaiting hearings has soared from about 311,000 in 2000 to 755,000 now. The average waits for an appeals decision have increased from 258 days to 500 days. In contrast, in every Fiscal Year between 1997 and 2000 (p. 3,PDF), under Clinton the backlog decreased.
The Times describes the situations of several people to illustrate the devastating consequences of these waits for disabled people. Many are left homeless as a result of eviction or foreclosure, others go without medical care for serious medical conditions, some die of "natural" causes, and some become sufficiently depressed that they commit suicide.
The Times describes Bush's current opposition to an increase of $275 million (including $100 million to add 150 ALJs to the 1,025 currently at work) contained in the vetoed HHS Appropriations bill as a significant obstacle to the reduction of this backlog. But, it required only a brief perusal of the SSA web site to discover that the since 2001 the Republican Congress was responsible for this debacle. In May 2007, the Bush appointed Commissioner of Social Security testified before the Senate Finance Committee. He stated that the Republican Congress had appropriated an average of $150 million each year less than even the President requested since 2001. The Commissioner also stated that had this money been available, the agency could have held an additional 454 thousand hearings during that period.
At the same time the Agency's work load has increased substantially. Disability applications are increasing as the baby boomers age and reach their most disability prone years. At the same time, the same Republican Congress that appropriated reduced money for the Agency's operations assigned it new responsibilities. The 2003 Medicare Modernization Act entrusted it with taking applications for low income assistance to Medicare drug program beneficiaries. And, after 9-11, the Agency was required to administer added security procedures before issuing new or replacement Social Security cards, procedures that require more labor and thus more money.
Clearly, this Administration and the previous Republican Congress care not at all about providing even the most basic support for adults in this society who, through no fault of their own, are unable to support themselves. Given the poverty and illness and incapacity of those affected, the Republicans can expect to suffer few consequences when they exercise such callousness.