Social Media Could Be Used to Catch Disability Fraud
If you're on disability you should probably avoid posting photos of a night out dancing or a fun day on the golf course with your buddies. The Trump administration has proposed a rule that could give agency officials the ability to "investigate" the social media accounts of Social Security disability recipients. Why? To crack down on the fraud that costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year. In 2017, roughly 9.2 million Americans received disability benefits. The White House is actively working with the Social Security Administration to successfully propose a rule that allows social media monitoring and in turn, the administration would be able to identify fraud.
The White House released a fiscal 2020 budget proposal on Monday. The proposal aims to help the Social Security Administration by letting them "use all collection tools to recover funds in certain scenarios". People who claim that they can't perform different tasks at work such as lifting, standing, walking, sitting are able to collect disability benefits which is also known as Social Security Disability Insurance. Many Americans are loving the Trump administration proposal, however, disability rights advocates are worried that Facebook photos would represent "an inaccurate barometer of a person's current physical state." Just because someone finally got around to posting a photo of a fun night of dancing that took place in 2016, doesn't mean they are milking the system in 2020. The chairwoman of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Lisa D. Ekman is very disgruntled with the possibility of this new rule becoming a reality.
What are your thoughts? Should this be a requirement when signing up for disability? Is this a waste of resources? Also, how can I sign up for this job? I am an expert stalker or "investigator".