Posted on 07/27/2010 12:13:18 PM PDT by Angelus
Over 9 Million American are now on SSDI or SSI soon it will be 10 Million. I have wrote a few times about these corrupt programs and how they will soon be unsustainable because of how broad the definitions of disability and the broad language used in the Federal Statutes are that virtually anyone can get it. Also they refuse to put restrictions on who can receive benefits from SSI and SSDI such as Convicted Felons. No matter how many crimes on someone’s record whether felony or not they can still receive benefits. The Social Security Administrations website also provides assistance to get benefits even if you are not a legal citizen. It tells you how to become a “Qualified Alien” and get benefits. There have also been moves by Liberals in Congress to expand the SSI Program to all American Overseas territories and not just confine it to the states.
Now according to this article and Mrs. Fiano (the writer) the CBO now admits what I have said in the past that our disability benefits programs are unsustainable.
From http://www.dotmed.com/news/story/13538
CBO: Social Security Disability Insurance not sustainable July 27, 2010 by Astrid Fiano, DOTmed News Writer The Social Security Disability Insurance program will exhaust its trust fund by 2018, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, largely due to the significant growth of recipients. Between 1970 and 2009, the program increased from 2.7 million to 9.7 million people.
The reasons for the growth in beneficiaries include aging of the population; changes in laws that reversed previous restrictive policies in obtaining benefits; the growth of women in the workplace; and changes in overall health of the population. The last reason is not clearly defined, but may relate to some conditions no longer having the same mortality rate, such as HIV/AIDS. Another factor for the growth seems to be lack of job opportunities due to the current economic crisis.
The program pays cash benefits to adults under age 66 who have worked in the past but are determined to be currently unable to perform "substantial" work. The CBO says that in 2009, the program paid benefits to nearly 8 million disabled beneficiaries and also two million beneficiaries' spouses and children.
The Disability Insurance Trust Fund is financed mostly through a 1.8 percent payroll tax. However, without action to reduce the program's costs, increase from tax revenue, or transference of other federal funds to the program, the CBO says the Social Security Administration will not have the legal authority to pay full DI benefits beyond 2018.
The CBO does suggest a number of changes that could help in addressing the potential exhaustion of the trust fund. These changes include increasing revenues dedicated to the DI program (payroll or other taxes), or reducing outlays by adjusting the program's rules (i.e., creating a stricter definition of disability, or benefit formula). Other approaches suggested are strengthening incentives for people with disabilities to continue to work through early intervention programs; incentives for employers to offer more support to workers with disabilities beyond regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (i.e. special accommodations to a disabled worker); the federal government directly paying a portion of a disabled worker's wages; or allowing people with disabilities to receive partial disability benefits for conditions that preclude full-time employment but allow part-time employment.
I would like to add that SSI pays anywhere from $654 to $679 a month to its beneficiaries adding up to about $8,000 a year. And there are no time limits on how long someone can receive benefits.
Also if you are on SSI you automatically get Food Stamps, Medicaid, and Section 8 Housing.
And Your House and Car are excluded as resources by Social Security.
SSI and SSDI are pure insanity.
I made the joke once that he had a lemonade stand, and it took four weeks to establish that no, he didn't, and he earned zero income from such sidewalk jobs.
Yea, what the hell does being a convicted felon have to do with getting disability payments. If the person worked his whole life and then became diabled why would it make any difference if he was convicted of a felony sometime in his lifetime??Lots of convicted felons live a prosperous life working and providing for their families.
Social Security is not sustainable...at all, period, end of story.
My Apologies for any mistakes. I wrote it in a hurry.
**
Then you need to slow down and check your work. It is difficult for the reader to consider you a serious thinker when you make such errors. And this was not the only one.
Same here. I’m on it for some issues I’ve been having for the past couple of years and I don’t mind drawing on something I paid into. I also, if I might add, get paid in proportion to the work credits I earned. So it’s not like I am making more than I’m putting in.
You don’t have to have ever worked to receive SSDI. It is a federal welfare program....nothing more, nothing less.
I can no longer do substantial work as an NFL linebacker. I wanna check.
I think that you must have earned sufficient work credit in order to receive SSDI.
It is the SSI that one can get just for being able to get it.
Or it may be just the opposite.
In any event, I know a young lady that is going blind, who has been told she would only be eligible for SSI, since, because of her youth, she had not worked long enough to be eligible for SSDI.
I think that you must be eligible for SS (age notwithstanding) retirement benefits , (sufficient work credits), in order to be eligible for SSDI.
Confusing.
Don’t let your own experience fool you. Just because it was hard for you to get on SSD doesn’t mean it’s hard for others. This fraud-ridden program is set up to put honest, legitimately disabled individuals who have worked all their lives at significant disadvantage to the scam artists and something-for-nothing crowd who know exactly how to game the system using dishonest doctors and lawyers.
Your problem is that you didn’t carefully pre-select your particular disability ahead of time to exactly fit the eligibility criteria. You probably didn’t even get sick or injured on purpose. Then, to compound matters, you probably went to a real doctor with intentions of getting better so you could continue working. The way the game is played, you find the most subjective, politically correct ailments FIRST, then start “manifesting” the exact symptoms on their checklists and find a scam doctor who specializes in confirming it all to SSD.
A well-intentioned and necessary system has been perverted and hijacked. You have my sympathies.
Glad you cleared that up. Most people do not know the difference.You do not receive ssdi if have not worked.Lots of hard working people who have worked and payed into SS find themselves unable to work as they get into thier 50’s and early 60’s. Thay did not have a choice if they wanted to opt out of paying these taxes. And my question to angelus, why did you think it was important to mention that felons are eligible for payments??? Do you have an elitist streak in you that makes you feel you are better than them???
Gee, no shi . . . . er, kidding!!!
I quoted from the article which stated “worked in the past”. But we know how there are loopholes for the dependent class.
When these programs were passed - we were all forced to participate and become *vested*. For all of our working lives, we trusted there was oversight on this SS fund. Of course, we have since learned there is no such TRUST FUND. It has been plundered for votes.
My observations are similar to yours.
Not only is it difficult and it can take years for really disabled folks to get anything, but the benefits ARE watched very closely. I know someone who works occasionally when they are well enough. If they used any medical benefits that particular month and earned income, their SSID is adjusted to pay the medical bills incurred. They were not allowed to work over 18 hours/week and had to get an MD approval for a stool on the job so they could rest, occasionally.
When this person still had children at home, she had a choice each year of food stamps or earned income tax credit. She did not qualify for Section 8 since she liked where she lived and the landlord was not Section 8 approved. If a spouse or a working adult child lives with the disabled person, there is either no or lessened housing assistance. The one time she needed fuel assistance, it took weeks, in the coldest part of the year and in the end, she got 1/2 tank of propane.
The amount of hoops is daunting and the person must be very organized, because paperwork requirements are horrific.
Thank you.
Re your post 7, yes, it is distressing to see posts by supposedly professional authors who make obvious grammatical errors. One would think that the posters might want to look them over first to detect them and adjust accordingly.
See my post #29
I did.
After I had posted.
I'm just a slow poster.
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