Fox's Bream Suggests All Federal Disability Benefit Payments Are Fraudulent

Written by Mike Burns

Published

Fox News guest host Shannon Bream pushed the absurd notion that the fraud rate in federal disability benefits is 100 percent, claiming that 8.8 million people in the United States are collecting disability benefits “under false pretenses.” In fact, 8.8 million is the total number of workers who received Social Security Disability Benefits in 2012. 

Previewing an America Live segment on disability benefits fraud, Bream claimed, “There are reportedly 8.8 million people in the U.S. collecting disability benefits under false pretenses.”  

Fox has routinely pushed disability benefits myths, including the claim that it is “easy” to receive disability benefits and that the increase in disability benefits is due to “moochers.”

In fact, the total number of workers who received disability benefits in 2012 was 8.8 million. Claiming that 8.8 million people fraudulently received disability benefits is tantamount to claiming that every disability payment to a worker in 2012 was fraudulent. 

In a report published in March 2012, the Government Accountability Office found that improper payments of disability benefits are not a widespread problem. GAO noted that "[f]ederal agencies reported improper payment estimates totaling $115.3 billion in fiscal year 2011, a decrease of $5.3 billion from the revised prior year reported estimate of $120.6 billion. Based on the agencies' estimates, OMB estimated that improper payments comprised about 4.7 percent of the $2.5 trillion in fiscal year 2011 total spending for the agencies' related programs." Of that $115.3 billion, Medicaid payments accounted for $21.9 billion, Supplemental Security Income payments accounted for $4.6 billion, and Disability Insurance payments accounted for $4.5 billion. 

Moreover, eligibility criteria for disability benefits are stringent, and more than half of all disability claims are denied. According to data from the Social Security Administration, only 34.8 percent of applicants were successfully awarded disability benefits in 2010, down from 56.1 percent a decade earlier.