A federal grand jury in Lexington, Kentucky, has handed down a multi-count indictment alleging fraud in Social Security disability payments. Retired administrative law judge David Black Daugherty, attorney Eric Christopher Conn, and psychologist Alfred Bradley Adkins were named along with three unnamed co-conspirators, according to court documents.
A press release issued Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Justice quoted Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell as saying, “The defendants are charged with designing an intricate scheme, using their expertise and positions of authority, to fraudulently induce payment of $600 million in federal disability and healthcare benefits.”
Under the U.S. Constitution, all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by due process of law. Regardless of whether the final verdict of this case is guilty or not guilty, this is a good opportunity to question the use of Social Security for disability payments. The Social Security Administration is projecting financial shortfalls, and already future retirees are being warned of looming cuts in retirement payments. As long as cuts appear necessary, this may a good time to look at Social Security’s disability payments as a good first place to phase out programs within Social Security.
Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution is the federal government granted power to make disability payments. This reason alone is justification for the American people to demand that Congress obey the U.S. Constitution and eliminate disability claims under Social Security. Another reason to get the federal government out of the disability benefits business is the subjective nature of benefits based on psychological criteria.
There are privately funded programs for people who are truly disabled, such as private insurance for employees who are injured on the job. The military has a disability program for veterans with service-connected disabilities. There are also disability benefits programs funded at the state or local level of government. For those who wish to have insurance in case of disability, they should weigh the costs and the risks and decide whether or not to purchase private insurance on their own.
Politicians love to portray themselves as generous when dispensing other people’s money. But generosity is when one dips into his own pocket to give something to someone. As Congressman Davy Crockett learned when he encountered a voter named Horatio Bunce, when politicians give away other people’s money in an unconstitutional way, that is not generosity. That is stealing. Davy Crockett was a man of conscience, and after one quick lesson from Horatio, he saw the light. Some politicians today can see the light. Others need to feel the heat.
Social Security disability payments are unconstitutional. This case involving fraud in Social Security disabilities payments should be a wake-up call for Americans to phase out Social Security altogether. Perhaps disability payments can be the first step. Readers of these pages can read a previous New American online article on how to phase out Social Security that was published near Social Security’s 80th birthday.
