We all know Big Brother is watching us.
There is nowhere we can go now where we aren't being watched--on the internet, at work, on our phones, even in our own living rooms thanks to Siri and Amazon Alexa.
But if you're applying for Social Security benefits, your social media activity could soon be used to determine if you legitimately need them.
The Trump administration is working on a plan intended to permit the Social Security Administration (SSA) to monitor claimants' Facebook and Twitter posts to root out fraud and abuse.
This is nothing more than playing into the long-held Republican claim that fraud runs rampant through the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program.
The GOP has had it out for this pillar of American society since Social Security's inception in 1935, and has taken every opportunity to weaken it.
This latest proposal, disguised as altruism, is just another attempt at handing Democracy wholesale to the billionaire class.
Of course we need oversight. We mustn't be naive and assume everyone will do the right thing if left to her or his own devices unchecked.
But oversight already exist.
SSA currently uses data analytics and predictive modeling to help detect fraud.
Mark Hinkle, acting SSA press officer, confirmed the agency also already monitors social media and has created new fraud detection and prevention groups.
He states:
"[SSA has] studied strategies of other agencies and private entities to determine how social media might be used to evaluate disability applications.”
Contrary to conspiracy theorists' belief, disability fraud is rare.
The over-payment rate for all SSA programs in each of the last three fiscal years was under one percent of benefit payouts.
The SSA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reported that in the 2018 federal fiscal year, the agency reported about $98 million in recoveries, fines, settlements, judgments, and restitution for benefits paid out over several years.
Contrast that with the $197 billion the agency paid out to SSDI and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients in just 2018 alone.
Moreover, not all improper payments are fraudulent.
Administrative delays due to adjustments and paperwork errors occur.
On an Office of Management and Budget list of programs most at risk for improper payments, Social Security isn't even mentioned.
Even Rachel Greszler, a research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, an organization on a tireless quest to expose fraud and abuse, admits “Outright fraud is actually a pretty small component of the program’s problems.”
She added:
“Most people perceive fraud as a big issue but what they might consider fraud--people receiving benefits when they have the ability to work--is often just abuse of the system by taking advantage of certain rules and structures that allow people who can perform some work to nevertheless receive benefits.”
Lisa Ekman, director of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives government affairs division, argues:
“The proposal to allow disability adjudicators to monitor or review social media of disability claimants is an unjustified invasion of privacy unlikely to uncover fraud.”
Consider how unreliable social media profiles are.
How many do we know post filtered or photo-shopped pictures of themselves, or pictures that are old?
How many of our friends and family post pictures of us? They're not all recent.
In addition, not all legitimate disabilities prevent people from participating in seemingly suspicious activities.
Adding another unnecessary procedure will only further delay a process already making applicants wait an unfortunate 600 days for decisions due to years of congressional decisions that have left SSA chronically understaffed.
Instead of wasting time and money on another quixotic attempt at dismantling the wildly successful Social Security, let's expand it.
Lift the $132,900 cap so everyone making above that has skin in the game.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
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