Civil Candor

political cynicism for turbulent times

Copyright © 2023 CivilCandor.com

Home » Big Government » Benefits Cheaters Get Government Assistance

Benefits Cheaters Get Government Assistance

Last update June 20, 2015Leave a Comment

There is enough theft of government assistance going on that benefits cheaters don’t need much help, but a new government report shows that some thieves aren’t cheating at all. Instead, they have fallen victim to our overgenerous government not doing its job.

When Washington sends you money you didn’t ask for, what do you do?

Social Security Disability: the money just keeps coming

One of our favorite cash for doing nothing entitlements, Social Security Disability overpaid over $11 billion between 2005 and 2014.1 Some of the extra cash went to people who didn’t report they were working. Some was doled out because the government couldn’t keep track. According to the Government Accountability Office what this means for taxpayers is:

… an annual average of 96,000 DI beneficiaries incurring an average work-related overpayment of $12,000.2

Government benefits are big business. So is cheating. Too many Americans know how to trick the system, but some don’t even have to try. Are we making it so easy to collect public assistance that many Americans don’t know they are cheaters?

Assistance means more than a handout. It also means passing out billions because of mistakes. In 2014 Uncle Sam wrongly paid out $5.6 billion in unemployment insurance benefits, an error rate of 11.6%. Supplemental Security Income wrongly doled out $5.1 billion for 9.2% errors and Retirement Survivors and Disability Insurance mishandled $3 billion.3

That’s just the beginning of the bad benefits payment news. Fortunately, when government assistance goes bad Washington has an answer.

Jobless benefits cheaters get Labor Department encouragement?

As the numbers on income assistance programs grow with big government the ability for bureaucracy to control what it spends falters.

The Labor Department was outraged when the extent of unemployment insurance losses to fraud and errors totaling nearly $18 billion came to light during the dark days of the recession.4 Despite the ease with which bureaucracy loses money on benefits programs the agency continues to encourage Americans to be resentful of denied opportunity and income:

For too many workers in this country, a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work doesn’t ring true. This is especially true for workers in industries like fast food, retail, construction, and hospitality, such as hotels or motels. Too often they’re denied the wages to which they are legally entitled, which in many cases means not even receiving the federal minimum wage and overtime from their employers.5

When you don’t get what you deserve, at least government generosity has your back.

Too much money for too many benefit payments

The rise in SNAP spending under Obama is going to be prime campaign trail fodder, but there is more to food assistance than stamps. In 2014 programs to help feed Americans accounted for $100 billion in spending.6 The money was doled out from 18 different benefits programs from all levels of government. “Little was known about the effectiveness …” of 11 of the programs.7 The GAO made suggestions to fix the overlap and got this instead:

In 2013, USDA commissioned a study on the feasibility and potential cost to assess the extent of overlap and duplication among these programs and, based on the results, decided to study the impact of participation in multiple food assistance programs on the nutritional status of participants.8

Benefits fund a lot more than food assistance. Sometimes the money goes to multiple assistance payments for retirees. For example, it is legal under federal law to simultaneously collect compensation from Department of Defense retirement, Veterans Affairs disability, and Social Security disability. This amounted to more than $3.5 billion legally paid out in 2013.9

With Washington so generous we need to rethink who America’s benefits cheaters are. We don’t have the numbers to compare, but the losses beg the question: are bureaucrats and federal agencies costing us more than public assistance crooks?

Sources

Filed Under: Big Government Tagged With: government waste

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Apotheosis of Washington. Architect of the Capitol.

Apotheosis of Washington
Architect of the Capitol

BROWSE

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Read More

In case of sale of your personal information, you may opt out by using the link Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Accept Decline Cookie Settings
I consent to the use of following cookies:
Cookie Declaration About Cookies
Necessary (1) Marketing (0) Analytics (1) Preferences (0) Unclassified (1)
Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.
NameDomainPurposeExpiryType
wpl_user_preference civilcandor.com WP GDPR Cookie Consent Preferences 1 year HTTP
Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.
We do not use cookies of this type.
Analytics cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
NameDomainPurposeExpiryType
_ga civilcandor.com Google Universal Analytics long-time unique user tracking identifier. 2 years HTTP
Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.
We do not use cookies of this type.
Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies.
NameDomainPurposeExpiryType
_ga_R6V41C7WZK civilcandor.com --- 2 years ---
Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user's experience more efficient. The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies we need your permission. This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages.
Cookie Settings

Do you really wish to opt-out?