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Social Security Disability Awards Reform Can Restore Dignity and Efficacy to the System
….Over the past decade, judicial impartiality has declined significantly, as many administrative-law judges uncritically approve most claims.
- In 2008, judges on average approved about 70 percent of claims before them.
- Nine percent of judges approved more than 90 percent of benefit requests that landed on their desks.
If the judges with award rates topping 90 percent are not included in the data, the rate of denial increases by 2-3 percent annually. Assuming an average lifetime award of $250,000, taxpayers could have saved $23 billion over those six years had the most generous judges left the bench. Lowering the threshold to exclude judges with award rates north of 85 percent, these savings increase to $41 billion. Former Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue made much-needed changes. Judges were limited to hearing 1,000 cases each year (the figure has since been lowered to 700) and individuals are allowed only one disability application at a time. These reforms have produced good results. In 2011 judges with award rates exceeding 90 percent heard a mere 4 percent of all cases, a 63.6 percent decline from 2008. Mr. Astrue’s term expired in 2013. Read More…