Want to Save Social Security? Stop the Fraud!

Jeff Davis

Georgia Heritage Council
Phone: 770-297-4788 email: chairman@GeorgiaHeritageCouncil.org
Web: www.georgiaheritagecouncil.org

Want to Save Social Security? Stop the Fraud! by J. A. Davis

Normally we stay pretty well on track to heritage related issues in our commentary. This one may seem to stray a little but when considered it runs smack dab into some of the issues you will find listed in our ten planks of our Georgia Heritage Council Campaign 2006.

The great national debate of the moment involves the debate over how to save Social Security. The Bush administration is all out for personal accounts as a part of the solution. Their plans have run into all sorts of opposition, even in their own party ranks.

Let me be clear. Social Security will become a negative cash flow probably before the best estimates currently predicted. A portion of the fund to private accounts could buy it some more time and develop a better opportunity for beneficiaries to develop an account they own and can use or pass on as they see fit. The initial cost to propel this plan is huge and therein lies part of the opposition.

For those of us who would like to see such a plan work we must consider some facts that the media won't discuss.

Nothing will save Social Security until the scams and fraud taking place under the disability programs included in the current plan are addressed and stopped.

Over the past several years there has been a transfer of people who no longer qualified for a separate welfare program to disability under Social Security. In many cases the monthly benefit increased three and four fold over the monthly payment provided by welfare. Try amounts like $1200-$1800 per month for people in their twenties, thirties, forties and fifties. Add to that, by being added as disabled to Social Security these folks also qualify for Medicare. The recent report from Medicare indicates it may be in more trouble than Social Security.

How do these people qualify for these benefits you ask? Here are just a few examples. Start with illegal immigrants who can use a false Social Security number which is held in abeyance until they qualify for legal Social Security status, through such things as worker permits or amnesty. Once that happens their illegal and phony account is retroactively totalled into a legal account which when totals the qualified quarters entitles them to the full benefits of both Social Security and Medicare. It is estimated that several million illegals will likely qualify under this policy. Yes, their checks to their home countries where most are returning once qualified.

There is an underground disability scam under way that is even more frightening and just as criminal, if not more so. There is no evidence anything is being done to stop it. By becoming classified as disabled by a physician regardless of age, the benefits of both Social Security and Medicare become immediately available. In many cases these benefits exceed what the income was prior to qualification.

What are these disabilities? One of the leading ones is back injury which has always been difficult to pin down for authenticity. Another is Chronic Fatigue. I know one person in her fifties who just got tired of working and said she was constantly tired when she wasn't partying or travelling. She convinced a doctor she needed to sleep more. She gets more than $1600 a month plus medical expenses, some of which go regularly to the doctor who continues to certify her as disabled.

Then there are those who get on board by being alcohol and drug addicted. The latest scam being promoted by the left is obesity. Some estimates in minority communities run as high as 40% of the population being obese, including students. When considering the payoff bonanza those who aren't obese have good reason to consider stuffing themselves with junk food until they are.

Of course we know of the other fraudulent activities associated with Medicaid largely by illegals. No concerted effort appears to be taking place to curtail these activities and in fact there is evidence that employers are promoting the benefits as part of the unbridled illegal activities they skate free from. Don't think these grafters are all small businesses. The multinational corporations that control the local chambers of commerce are very much involved with little or no interruptions. As such they are an impediment to small business competition which is another developing problem as small businesses get snuffed.

The sum and substance of what this means to me is that no matter what reforms take place in Social Security and Medicare, there will be no solution to the insolvency until something is done about the the fraud and corruption that both the federal and state governments seem to ignore. Sure it's politics. Dirty rotten politics that every enabler needs to be exposed and defeated. Let the chips fall where they may.

Jeff Davis is a retired radio-TV journalist living in Gainesville, GA. Active in civic and political affairs, he is past president of the Georgia Jaycees, former vice president of the US and the world Jaycees, former campaign chairman of the Georgia Republican party. He voluntarily serves as chairman of the Georgia Heritage Council. He is a collateral descendant of President Jefferson Davis.

Contact: Telephone 770 297-4788 P-6, 2363 North Cliff Colony Drive Gainesvlle, GA 30501