Social Security Disability Fund Could Run Dry in 2016

NBC News ^ | July 22, 2015

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The 11 million people who receive Social Security disability face steep benefit cuts next year — unless Congress acts, the government said Wednesday.

The trustees that oversee Social Security said the disability trust fund will run out of money in late 2016, right in the middle of a presidential campaign. That would trigger an automatic 19 percent cut in benefits.

The report said the fund faces "an urgent threat" that requires prompt action by Congress.

There is an easy fix available: Congress could shift tax revenue from Social Security's much larger retirement fund, as it has done in the past.

[CPT Clay]

Hmmm

[Political Junkie Too]

Nobody is mentioning that disability is where Obama offloaded everyone after their unemployment benefits ran out?

-PJ

[ChicagahAl]

Congress could shift tax revenue from Social Security's much larger retirement fund...

Yeah, that makes sense.

Screw those of us who have paid into SS for 45 or 50 years (or more).

And besides; how can that chart be correct? We keep hearing that the massive influx of illegals will save Social Security via their withholding contributions.

Shouldn't we be seeing a big surplus because of that?

Yeah, right.

[RetiredTexasVet]

Many people actually deserve disability however since the depression started in 2009 the numbers have skyrocketed. Many were laid off and couldn’t find work at their previous higher salaries and went doctor & lawyer shopping.

I remember one neighbor with a “bad back” who was up on the roof (note up on the steep roof) hanging Christmas lights. He was so proud of the light setup and bragged to me about it. I asked him about the disability and he explained to me that the government owed it to him since he was laid off and couldn’t find a job that paid what his former job paid. He said he still did some “contract” work on the side.

[riverdawg]

An overhead ratio of 20% still seemed high to me. After all, unlike private charities, SSA does not have to engage in fund-raising! So, I dug around for a few minutes and discovered that your $706b figure is probably OASI alone. In addition, SSA paid out $142b in DI and $50b in SSI in FY 2014, for a total payout of $893b. Page 26 at the following link has the FY 2014 data:

http://www.ssa.gov/finance/2014/Full%20FY%202014%20AFR.pdf