In late September Social Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced it would add four new investigative units to the Cooperative Disability Investigations (CDI) program as the agency continues to focus on fraud even though there has been little proof of rampant fraud among Social Security disability cases.
The CDI is a joint effort by the OIG and Social Security to combat disability fraud to save money for American taxpayers. The new units were opened in Omaha, Nebraska, Las Vegas, Manchester, New Hampshire and Cheyenne, Wyoming.
In a press release issued by the OIG’s office Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul reiterated how focused the agency has been at stamping out fraud and abuse.
“Social Security has zero tolerance for fraud and the CDI Program serves a vital role in detecting potential fraud and preventing it,” Saul said. “We tirelessly work at the national and local levels to stop would-be crooks and continue to be good stewards of taxpayer money by protecting the integrity of our programs.”
As has been indicated prior, eliminating fraud anywhere is a good thing, but with the addition of these four new fraud units you would think that fraud in disability cases is a major problem and that is just not the case, just refer to what Social Security has written on the matter.
Social Security, along with the Office of the Inspector General, identifies and aggressively prosecutes those who commit fraud. Our zero tolerance approach has resulted in a fraud incidence rate that is a fraction of one percent.
If fraud incidence is a “fraction of one percent” what is the need for additional fraud units? Social Security would be better served to increase staffing levels to improve the agency’s lackluster customer service history, which would make a bigger difference.
