Crackdown at social security disability program upsets doctors

The Wall Street Journal: Doctor Revolt Shakes Disability Program
Earlier this year, senior managers at the Social Security Administration in Baltimore, frustrated by a growing backlog of applications for federal disability benefits, called meetings with 140 of the agency's doctors. The message was blunt: The number of people seeking benefits had soared. Doctors had to work faster to move cases. Instead of earning $90 an hour, as they had previously, they would receive about $80 per case-;a pay cut for many cases which can take 60 to 90 minutes to review-;unless the doctors worked faster. ... Some doctors ... quit following the changes. Others were fired. In all, 45 of the 140 left within months, the agency said (Paletta, 11/22).