Washington, D.C. – A federal report released today details a pattern of potential fraud and abuse in occupational disability claims by Long Island Railroad retirees.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation of commuter railroad employee disability claims found that essentially every claim of the railroads investigated was approved in 2007. The full report can be found at www.gao.gov, or click here for a direct link to GAO-09-821R.
“While the investigation shows that problems may be confined to one railroad in particular, a nearly 100 percent approval rate of claims in a federal disability program raises serious questions,” said U.S. Rep. John L. Mica (R-FL), the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Republican Leader, who requested the GAO report. “Congress has a duty to make certain this program is being administered in a fair manner. We should not assume that there is widespread abuse of the program by railroad workers, but we need to determine whether improvements to the system are necessary.”
Railroad workers, rather than paying into and receiving retirement and disability benefits from the Social Security system, participate instead in a separate system administered by the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), an independent federal agency.
The GAO found that workers at one commuter railroad in particular, the Long Island Railroad (LIRR), applied to the RRB for occupational disability benefits at a rate 12 times higher than workers at other commuter railroads. The vast majority of the LIRR claims were for musculoskeletal problems, such as back pain, as compared to half of the workers from other commuter railroads. In addition, most of the LIRR workers provided the required occupational disability evidence from one of only three doctors, which GAO noted may be indicative of fraud and abuse.
Regardless of the railroad examined, GAO found that the RRB approved nearly 100 percent of all commuter railroad employee disability applications in 2007. That year, the RRB paid out $1.7 billion in occupational disability benefits to approximately 64,000 workers. This represents an average monthly annuity of over $2,200.
The GAO investigation was initially requested by Senator Charles Schumer of New York. When he withdrew the request, Mica and Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee Ranking Republican Bill Shuster (R-PA) asked GAO to complete their investigation.
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