Outrageous! Faking It (page 2 of 2)

Epidemic Abuse

You have to laugh at a clueless Jet Skiing acrobat. But the big picture can make you furious. Among public employees, disability abuse is epidemic, and it's all legal. In Portland, Oregon, the local newspaper called the city's disability system "an open checkbook." By mid-2005, over 10 percent of the city's police and firefighting forces were on disability. And, according to The Oregonian, many of those "disabled" people are healthy enough to earn a living in jobs like homebuilding and private investigation.

Then there was "chief's disease," a suspiciously severe wave of stress and other job-related disabilities that recently plagued the California Highway Patrol. According to The Sacramento Bee, it struck a staggering 55 of 65 high-ranking officers who retired between 2000 and mid-2004. One deputy commissioner who claimed workplace stress and physical ailments retired with a $39,000 settlement, lifetime medical coverage and a $107,000 yearly pension, half of which is tax-free. But while his doctor said the man must "avoid more than ordinary stress in further occupational endeavors," within two years he was working as security director at San Francisco International Airport, a position described in a press release as "on the front lines in the war on terrorism." (The former cop has noted that his new job is "strictly administrative.")

To be sure, there are many people in all professions who legitimately need aid for a real disability. They should get it without hassles. "The public desperately wants to protect people in need," says Larry McCarthy of the California Taxpayers' Association. "But we've got people who are diverting those critical funds and are going off to play golf and have second careers."

The final insult is how hard it can be to undo dubious disability benefits. Take the case of a former Washington state police officer who is currently serving a life sentence for murder. Guess why he's still getting $3,100 monthly checks from the government? Yup -- he's "disabled," allegedly from depression and stress. Yet murdering another human being is apparently not enough of a reason to cut him off. Over the last ten years, a government program has uncovered hundreds of disability recipients wanted for felonies -- 88 of them were facing homicide charges.

Maybe if the government tried a little harder, we might just catch more scammers. Taylor suggests limiting the repeated appeals people can make for Social Security disability benefits. And at the state and local level, politicians need to stop bowing before public-employee unions and impose tougher scrutiny on rackets like "chief's disease." If you are able to earn a living, then that income should at least be deducted from your disability stipend.

Of course, there will always be greedy people without a lick of shame -- fraudsters like Laura Lee Medley, who reportedly claimed to be wheelchair-bound. But after her recent arrest in Las Vegas on charges of insurance fraud, a miracle happened: Medley allegedly took off running! Apparently nothing heals like the prospect of a jail sentence. It's about time we gave more of these crooks that same medicine.

From Reader's Digest - October 2006

 

• • Health Insurance
• Michael Crowley
• • Scams
• • Your Tax Dollars

• Stealing Money Meant for Katrina Victims
• Why your charity dollars may be going to crooks instead of to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
• 
• Charities Stealing Money
• Nonprofit execs are getting big bucks and big perks, all on the donor’s dime.
• 
• Crooks Getting Rich on the War
• While our troops are dying, crooks are getting rich on the war.
• 
• Hospitals Misspending Government Grants
• We're paying for studies to heal sick kids and the elderly. We're getting swindled instead.
• 

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