Voters are asking questions—and the Harris campaign needs a plan.

In the twelve-month stretch from October 2022 through September 2023, 30,000 people died while waiting for federal disability determinations, according to Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley. Martha asked Harris what she would do as president for people, like herself, who are waiting for disability decisions while in desperate need of health insurance.

Delays in those decisions, driven in part by understaffing and a Covid-related rise in disability rates, have driven the typical wait time from four months in 2019 to seven months today, often coupled with the need to appeal an initial rejection, which can take years. The processing times represent a mounting crisis for the more than 1 million Americans who apply for disability in a given year.

  • Rekorse
    10·
    3 days ago

    I’d be interested in seeing that study or report. I wonder if they identified likely factors.

    • girlfreddyOP
      10·
      3 days ago

      Sorry, I can’t even remember what kind of program it was for. My ADHD just picked up on the number and logged it into my brain without a reference point.

      Gimme a bit and I’ll see if I can find it.

        • girlfreddyOP
          20·
          3 days ago

          Found one for Employment Insurance in Canada … works out to less than 1% for 2017-18.

          Public accounts documents released this month list more than 104,000 incidents of fraudulent EI claims totalling almost $177 million in the 2017-18 fiscal year.

          EI spending between April 2017 and March 2018 topped $19.7 billion. The value of fraudulent claims amounted to less than one per cent of total spending.

          https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/employment-insurance-ei-fraud-1.4876688

          • Rekorse
            10·
            2 days ago

            Thats a pretty good figure, I’ll have to remember that for when its relevant.

            Is there a good way to estimate how many cases of fraud don’t get caught?