[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 26, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H3841-H3842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SENIORS' BILL OF RIGHTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sanchez) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about an issue of concern to seniors in my district and around 
the country. I'm proud to support the Seniors' Bill of Rights crafted 
by the Democrats' Seniors Task Force, and am committed to its goals. 
These goals include helping seniors achieve financial security by 
staying in their homes, finding jobs, and receiving quality, affordable 
health care.
  Our seniors made this country what it is today--fighting overseas for 
our freedom, serving as the backbone for an economic boom in the post-
war years, and providing critical leadership in our communities.
  Today, I want to address a fundamental flaw in the Social Security 
system that I want to correct in the coming weeks: Social Security 
disability fraud. We are all aware of the disability backlog and the 
steps Congress is taking to reduce it. Due to dedicated oversight and 
strong action since the Democrats took back the majority in Congress, 
the backlog is being reduced. What is less commonly known is that some 
disability insurers are purposely adding to this backlog.

                              {time}  1900

  They have forced policyholders to apply for Social Security 
disability benefits or else they withhold payments. They do this even 
when they know the person is ineligible for Social Security disability 
benefits.
  Here is where the fraud comes in. Disability insurance pays out when 
you are hurt and unable to perform your job. Social Security is there 
when you are so hurt that you cannot perform any job.
  If a neonatal nurse, for example, injures her shoulder in a car 
accident and can no longer pick up infants, she can no longer do her 
job and is eligible for temporary disability benefits from her insurer. 
Because this nurse is still capable of serving a full career as a nurse 
in a number of other settings, she is not eligible for Social Security 
disability.
  This isn't a hypothetical situation. It is an actual case pulled from 
a lawsuit against one of the disability insurers that was defrauding 
Social Security.
  The disability insurer forced the nurse to commit fraud by forcing 
her to apply for Social Security disability, even though they knew the 
full extent of her injuries still meant that she

[[Page H3842]]

could work as a nurse in other capacities.
  These insurers have access to medical records and know full well when 
their customers are unable to perform any job. Yet they mandate that 
all of their customers, even those who are only temporarily injured, 
apply for Social Security disability. This adds to the backlog and 
costs taxpayers millions of dollars, all because insurers want to delay 
paying legitimate claims.
  My legislation would require that insurers play by the same rules 
that they require of individuals. If an insurer is going to mandate a 
policyholder apply for Social Security disability, that insurer should 
have to certify to the government that the claim is a legitimate, 
permanent claim.
  This legislation will root out this practice so that bad actors won't 
be able to clog the system with frivolous claims. When frivolous claims 
are weeded out, access for legitimate applicants increases and the time 
to process legitimate claims decreases.
  This is just one of the issues I am working on to benefit 
California's seniors. I look forward to working with my colleagues and 
passing this bill into law.

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