Social Security: Disability Benefits for Drug Addicts and Alcoholics Are Out of Control

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Social Security Administration's (SSA) payment of disability benefits to drug addicts and alcoholics. GAO noted that: (1) the number of addicts receiving disability benefits has substantially increased at an annual cost of about $1.4 billion; (2) SSA does not adequately monitor addicts receiving disability benefits and does not know the treatment status of most addicts; (3) most addicts receiving disability benefits are not required to be in treatment programs; (4) only about one-fifth of the addicts that are required to be in treatment programs are in drug treatment; (5) states without referral and monitoring agencies (RMA) have fewer drug addiction and alcoholism (DA&A) program participants because SSA and state disability determination offices in these states give a low priority to identifying such addicts; (6) SSA is establishing RMA in all 50 states and the District of Columbia; (7) about 100,000 addicts do not have representative payees to manage their disability benefits; (8) it is questionable how well representative payees control the use of addicts' benefits; (9) organizational payees make better representative payees than addicts' relatives and friends, since they have better control over benefit payments to addicts and are better able to deal with abusive or threatening addicts; and (10) SSA has difficulty in finding qualified representative payees for addicts, since payees are generally unpaid and serve on a voluntary basis.