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HEHS-94-178R 1 (1994-06-08)

handle is hein.gao/gaobackoy0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 1u136 United States G Afl General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Health, Education and Human Services Division B-253838 June 8, 1994 The Honorable William S. Cohen United States Senate Dear Senator Cohen: In response to your July 1993 request, we have examined Social Security Administration (SSA) controls over disability payments made to drug addicts and alcoholics (addicts). These individuals may receive disability payments under SSA's Disability Insurance (DI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. We found that annual disability payments of about $1.4 billion are made to an estimated 250,000 addicts. We also found that controls over these benefit payments are extremely lax. Under SSI, addicts who receive disability benefits because of their addiction are required by law to attend treatment (if available) and have a representative payee or third party manage their benefits. However, other addicts--who qualify for SSI disability benefits for other reasons independent of their addiction, such as heart disease--are not required to attend treatment or have a representative payee. Moreover, there are no requirements of any kind placed on addicts who receive benefits under the DI program. SSA, however, does require a payee, on a case-by-case basis, if the addict is found to be incapable of managing his or her benefits or is legally incompetent. We found that only about I in 5 of approximately 70,000 SSI addicts--who were disabled based on their addiction--were receiving treatment for their addiction as required. Of the 250,000 addicts in both the SSI and DI programs, about 100,000 did not have a representative payee. GAO/HEHS-94-178R Disability Benefits for Addicts

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