Obama Juggles the Numbers to Save Social Security Disability Benefits
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/02/09/Obama-Juggles-Numbers-Save-Social-Security-Disability-Benefits
Social Security trustees and other financial experts have been warning for years that lawmakers and the administration must act to prop up the hemorrhaging trust fund, as trustee Charles Blahous noted recently in The Fiscal Times. SSDI supplements the income of physically disabled workers and automatically enrolls them in Medicare after two years. The plan is funded by federal payroll taxes.
With more and more Americans turning to the program--and increasing evidence of billions dollars in fraud--the latest trustees’ report projects that the fund’s reserves will be depleted in late 2016. By law, Social Security can only pay benefits if there is a positive balance in the appropriate funds. Actually, there are two funds: one for old age and survivors’ benefits (OASI) and the other for disability benefits (SSDI).
Absent those reserves, Blahous said, the only funds the government can use to cover disability claims is the incoming tax revenue. Unfortunately, there would only be enough to cover 81 percent of scheduled disability benefits.
Congress is fast running out of time to address the brewing financial crisis. Legislation will be required during this session of Congress or, at the very latest, in a rush of activity early next year, to prevent large sudden benefit cuts. The House of Representatives recently passed a procedural rule to prepare for the coming legislative debate.
