SS disability=The new welfare. (military, school, education, Chicago)

[le roi]

Originally Posted by andywire

Heck, we got quite a few posters on this forum that practically brag about their SSDI payments.

And the bizarre thing is that many of them are Tea Party, small-government advocates.

[jmking]

Originally Posted by Dale Cooper

I have a neighbor now who was a licensed health care nurse. She hit a deer on her way home from work one night and it tore off the top of her head. She is now on full disability, and also works as a restaurant dishwasher 25 hours a week for $10/hr, which she gets paid 'under the table', no taxes. Her full disability is under $800/mo. I rail against people who double dip, but I don't begrudge her. She's 58 now and I feel her years working and paying her own way entitles her to a decent living. The accident with the deer diminished her mental capacity; she'll never work as a professional anything again.

In other words, she's earned it. No, she shouldn't be double dipping, but for every rule, there are exceptions. IMO, she would be one of those exceptions. She works hard and appreciates what she has.

There are programs under SSDI that allow those disabled, after rehab if possible to work a certain amount of time and or re-enter the workforce in which many do without losing all benenfits immediately. So, she may not be working under the table.

[Back to NE]

Economics/jobs aside, what does this say about the American way of life? That so many of us are so messed-up and/or unhealthy we can't even work? We've gotta be appalled by what all our unhealthy heavily processed food is doing to us, and all the pharmaceuticals we are taking and so often as children, and the polluted air we breath where so many get respitory problems, and car dependent suburbia along with computers and TVs which keep people inactive. Pretty pathetic.

Also, pardon the single anecdote, but I have a friend who is officially a Schedule A. This means he's had a physician vouch for him having a condition (in this case mental/anxiety disorder) that could require him to need special requirements on the job. In the gov't it allows Schedule As to compete as though they already have status in the govt. This is not a trump card but it can be their ticket in (if they interview well and have the KSAs to do the job).

Anyway, my friend recently decided to live in a healthy manner. He stopped eating meat, stopped drinking energy drinks, started eating veggies, and started exersizing. He lost 40 lbs in 5 weeks and no longer has anger issues. So all he had to do was live correctly to stop being disabled.

[ChrisFromChicago]

If you want to allow disability (i'm all for just canning the program). . .it should be re-thought of as what it is. . .a Welfare/education program

Every person on it should have a action plan and timeline (and face reduce benefits) to remove them. The idea that "well he only has high school, he has back pain, disability for life" is crazy.

If you have back pain, than you get a computer and educational classes so that you can start on training to get you a sit down job.


I bet most disability is just a type of welfare with people with excuses. We need to solve the gap between ability and job, and move them off.

[mwruckman]

Originally Posted by ALackOfCreativity

An alternative to either would be to hire a handful of doctors to act as consultants to audit the findings of the other doctors who give supporting documents for large numbers of "fuzzy" disability cases. It's a relatively small number of doctors doing this, so just need to closely keep tabs on them, and take away the ability to do so in the future / reverse decisions / fine the doctor in the cases where they are found to be falsely helping people claim disability.

Make doctors liable if they surpass a certain number and proportion of clearly groundless disability claims supported and watch the "fuzzy" claims dry up overnight.

Isn't this a Death Panel?

[freemkt]

Originally Posted by jmking

There are programs under SSDI that allow those disabled, after rehab if possible to work a certain amount of time and or re-enter the workforce in which many do without losing all benenfits immediately. So, she may not be working under the table.

They also are allowed to earn a certain amount of money - somewhere around $1000 a month I think - before losing SSDI. Unlike welfare benefits which are gradually reduced as one earns marginal dollars, SSDI has an all-or-nothing cliff where benefits are abruptly cut at a certain dollar amount of earnings.

So she could be working on the books just enough to stay below the cutoff point.

[kidkaos2]

Originally Posted by Back to NE

Economics/jobs aside, what does this say about the American way of life? That so many of us are so messed-up and/or unhealthy we can't even work? We've gotta be appalled by what all our unhealthy heavily processed food is doing to us, and all the pharmaceuticals we are taking and so often as children, and the polluted air we breath where so many get respitory problems, and car dependent suburbia along with computers and TVs which keep people inactive. Pretty pathetic.

Also, pardon the single anecdote, but I have a friend who is officially a Schedule A. This means he's had a physician vouch for him having a condition (in this case mental/anxiety disorder) that could require him to need special requirements on the job. In the gov't it allows Schedule As to compete as though they already have status in the govt. This is not a trump card but it can be their ticket in (if they interview well and have the KSAs to do the job).

Anyway, my friend recently decided to live in a healthy manner. He stopped eating meat, stopped drinking energy drinks, started eating veggies, and started exersizing. He lost 40 lbs in 5 weeks and no longer has anger issues. So all he had to do was live correctly to stop being disabled.

Well even if I stop getting extra cheese on my pizza I'm still not going to be able to walk

[kidkaos2]

Originally Posted by le roi

And the bizarre thing is that many of them are Tea Party, small-government advocates.

That's not bizarre. It's good sense. If the government stops wasting so much money then it will have more to pay for those who are legitimately disabled.

[ellemint]

Originally Posted by Ghostrider275452

More: http://apps.npr.org/unfit-for-work/


The Andy Griffith Show - Opie And His Merry Men - YouTube It is unbelievable how easy it is to get a check! The video is a perfect example of people who want nothing more than a free ride. I know a few myself.

Ghostrider, if you had read your own link to the npr article, you would have seen that the issue of increasing numbers of Americans on disability is a lot more nuanced than you think.

[ellemint]

Originally Posted by EmeraldCityWanderer

It's not state assistance that is completely broken, it is private companies themselves discriminating against sick people.

If you get sick, unless your boss is a great person, you might as well quit and look for another job when you are well again. I've seen it happen more then I like to think about, including almost having it happen to myself. I went in for urgent (not emergency) surgery in a job soon after college and told my boss I would need some time off for it. I had worked there for a bit, had some time, but my boss said in no uncertain terms that if I took more then one day off for recovery then some one else would have my job. Similar with an interview, where I was brought in because the woman I was to replace had cancer. She wasn't dying, wasn't missing a lot of work (from the interviewer) but she might possibly prove unreliable due to illness so they wanted to get rid of her and bring in some one else. Kind of backfired as I was a witness in the ADA case against them.

I've seen the same in people with cancer, broken bones, car accidents, epilepsy...even if the person doesn't miss a day of work or has anything to do with their injuries. If you get sick in this country to the point where it affects your job at all then it can be a slow death sentence.

I this this is very true. Most workplaces have a great deal of trouble accommodating those with an illness, let alone accommodating someone with a disability. I think workplaces need a lot of education on this; it should be a full college course for those who are getting those useless Human Resources degrees. Employers should allow disabled employees to allow from work more often for example, but for some reason employers are loathe to do this.