Talk:Disability fraud

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Lead and meat of article is based on self published sources and original research, Second section very inaccurate to primary source

All sources[1] [2] and [3] for the first section seem to be self published sources. Types of fraud section seems to have many inaccuracies and much original research. Ward20 (talk) 09:41, 28 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Globalization

I've added a globalise tag.

The article seems quite US focused with the Types of Fraud section being exclusively US; and Notable Cases being 2 US, 1 UK cases.

I think it happens more widely than the US and is capable of being globalised

Icarusgeek (talk) 17:52, 19 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Is Disability Fraud only for money?

Wondering about a broadening of the subject matter to include deception for other gain. Examples that occur to me:

• jumping into reserved parking spaces in US and UK
• Recent pretense at Expo 2010 ^[1] to gain loan wheelchairs followed by accelerated pavilion admission
• I imagine not uncommon at theme parks for people to try to queue jump by faking (and that I could track down references)

Any thoughts?

Icarusgeek (talk) 18:12, 19 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, this is an old comment, but I'm trying to do some work on this page. I wonder if this should be renamed "Disability Benefits Fraud" because most of the focus is on benefits already. Other types of fraud might be more difficult to discuss with a NPOV or using verifiable, reliable sources. Prof Whitney (talk) 16:00, 30 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

References

1. Scammers use wheelchairs to skirt lines

Prevalence

"[C]onservatives insist [disability insurance] is riddled with fraud, despite lots of evidence to the contrary." -Krugman ^[1]

No idea if Krugman's right or what body of evidence he's talking about. The article would really benefit from a mix of evidence on the prevalence of fraud from both the right and the left... though maintaining NPOV could be a challenge. Here's a mix:

• Forbes arguing fraud (maybe the inspiration for the NPR/TAL coverage): http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardfinger/2013/01/14/fraud-and-disability-equal-a-multibillion-dollar-balck-hole-for-taxpayers/#b44a366122b6
• Nine Facts That Prove Disability Insurance Isn’t A Giant Boondoggle http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/16/2787821/facts-disability-insurance/ --68.100.141.9 (talk) 02:34, 17 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

This is an old comment, but I'm trying to do some work on this page. Rather than look into what people think the prevalence of fraud is, I searched for information about the error rates in awarding disability benefits.

Here's what I've found and plan to add to the article:

=== Prevalence of Errors in Disability Benefits ===

Errors in disability benefits can consist of benefits being granted to nondisabled people and to disabled people being rejected for benefits.

==== In the US ====

A 2004 working paper found an error rate of 20% for false positives and 60% for false negatives for awarding disability benefits.^[2] A 2012 report from the United States Government Accountability Office found an error fate of 0.6%. The listed error causes were computation errors, eligibility errors, non-verification of earnings, and incorrect processing of payments.^[3] A 2019 working paper found that work-disabled women are 12.8% more likely to be denied benefits than work-disabled men.^[4] Prof Whitney (talk) 15:56, 30 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

References

1. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/return-of-the-undeserving-poor/?_r=0&pagewanted=all
2. Benitez-Silva, Hugo; Buchinsky, Moshe; Rust, John (2004-01), How Large are the Classification Errors in the Social Security Disability Award Process? (Working Paper), Working Paper Series, National Bureau of Economic Research, doi:10.3386/w10219, 10219, retrieved 2025-09-30 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. "Wayback Machine" (PDF). www.gao.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2025-06-30. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
4. Low, Hamish; Pistaferri, Luigi (2019-11), Disability Insurance: Error Rates and Gender Differences (Working Paper), Working Paper Series, National Bureau of Economic Research, doi:10.3386/w26513, 26513, retrieved 2025-09-30 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

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Section on efforts to curb disability fraud

The current article is very focused on individuals committing disability benefits fraud. As the lead section notes, this is difficult to track because of the complexity of disability.

I would like to add a section about efforts to curb disability fraud in the US. In particular, I want to focus on the Reagan Administration's efforts to reduce disability benefits fraud in the 1980s and to Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' program in the 2000s.

Here are some sources on Reagan:

http://web.archive.org/web/20240710215123/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/09/us/fairness-of-reagan-s-cutoffs-of-disability-aid-questioned.html?

https://www.proquest.com/docview/282732346?accountid=12874&parentSessionId=xO56TTq4nerS9WkfzO5ucd46gwX0amoW8FbQE6bh3WA%3D&pq-origsite=primo&searchKeywords=SOCIAL+SECURITY+CUTS+FROM+REAGAN+YEARS+BEING+RESTORED&sourcetype=Newspapers

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/14/us/reagan-suspends-benefits-cutoff.html

Sources on Daniels:

https://indianapolisrecorder.com/a23e802f-4199-5c1f-ab3e-a10f046da89f/#:~:text=Governor%20Mitch%20Daniels%20admitted%20defeat%20and%20cut,if%20you%20were%20buying%20an%20airline%20ticket.

https://www.wthr.com/article/news/politics/daniels-signs-116-billion-welfare-privatization-contract/531-23e835f6-4720-46a9-a5da-5704d06ba491 Prof Whitney (talk) 15:57, 2 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]