In their ongoing War On Humans, the Trump administration is now looking at using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to spy on people receiving Social Security disability benefits. That’s right, the party who’s guiding principle is to keep the government from intruding on people’s lives wants to implement a Big Brother-like policy of surveillance on people who are in need.
The idea, of course, is to crack down on what they claim to be massive fraud in the system. It’s the same justification Republicans use all the time to cut benefits for the poor and those who can’t fight back. But how much fraud is there in the SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) system? According to a Forbes Magazine article by disability advocate Denise Brody, there are 10 million SSDI recipients receiving a total of $11 billion per month.
"It is important to note, improper payments is an SSA term in which fraud is included, but is not exclusively fraud. With less than 3% of all payments in 2017 regarded as improper, the incidence of fraud is not accurately known," says Julie Sowash, senior consultant for Disability Solutions, a division of Ability Beyond. "Applying additional barriers to access funds Americans have paid in to through their payroll contributions to lower the incidence of fraud perpetuates harmful stereotypes about people with disabilities, including individuals with mental health disorders (like myself) whose disabilities are often not visible."
This means that fraud amounts to $.33 billion a month or just under $4 billion per year at most, although the actual number is probably much lower. $4 billion a year would be a lot of money for an individual, but it’s an eensy, weensy fraction of the $4 trillion the government spends annually. It’s also dwarfed by what the government loses each year in corporate fraud, which was estimated at $261 billion in 2012, the latest year for which I was able to find data. But going after the less fortunate is a staple of the Republican Party. It’s what they do.
While fraud exists in virtually any large-scale program, the idea that it’s rampant is SSDI is suspect. The application process for these benefits is notoriously difficult. Most applications are denied, including legitimate ones that are eventually approved through a long and arduous approval process that often involves multiple medical exams and a hearing before an administrative law judge. If often takes years before a claim is approved. The Social Security administration also conducts periodic reviews of each case, which requires more medical exams, and which can also require legal assistance. So, there’s already plenty of protection against fraud.
Because it’s so difficult to get approval, the process often requires the assistance of a lawyer or advocate, services that tend to be unavailable to people with lower incomes. Of course, to Republicans, this is a feature of the system rather than a bug, since there’s nothing they like better than punishing the poor.
A particularly concerning aspect of this proposal is the assumption that you can judge someone’s ability to work based on a photo or a tweet. You can’t.
Speaker and author Linea Johnson wondered how Facebook could be thought of as a reliable investigative tool. "The concept of investigating whether someone lives with a disability on social media is extremely concerning to me. First of all, in our modern world, everyone is presenting this almost Instagramable view of their lives," she says. "There is a trend of only posting what is beautiful, fun, and exciting when that may be very far from someone's reality. Whether they live with a disability or not."
Another assumption behind this Orwellian proposal is that the disabled are trying to beat the system and avoid work. In fact, evidence shows that 80% of people with a disability are looking for work. The Republican narrative, in conflict with reality, is that people on disability are lazy. It’s probably not a coincidence that “lazy” is the same label they love to attach to people of color.
Republicans are able to foist this sort of punishment on people by taking advantage of the fact that most people know little about disability and the disabled. The way to fight their cruelty is with information. Brody lists several steps people can take in her article, which is worth reading for anyone who cares about this issue and is appalled by the Republicans’ intrusive and punitive approach.