Posted on 08/06/2010 10:35:47 PM PDT by Libloather
Benefits For People With Disabilities
The Social Security and Supplemental Security Income disability programs are the largest of several Federal programs that provide assistance to people with disabilities. While these two programs are different in many ways, both are administered by the Social Security Administration and only individuals who have a disability and meet medical criteria may qualify for benefits under either program.
Social Security Disability Insurance pays benefits to you and certain members of your family if you are "insured," meaning that you worked long enough and paid Social Security taxes.
Supplemental Security Income pays benefits based on financial need.
When you apply for either program, we will collect medical and other information from you and make a decision about whether or not you meet Social Security's definition of disability.
Use the Benefits Eligibility Screening Tool to find out which programs may be able to pay you benefits.
If your application has recently been denied, the Internet Appeal is a starting point to request a review of our decision about your eligibility for disability benefits.
If your application is denied for:
Medical reasons, (beginning December 22nd) you can complete and submit the required Appeal Request and Appeal Disability Report online.
The disability report asks you for updated information about your medical condition and any treatment, tests or doctor visits since we made our decision.
Non-medical reasons, you should contact your local Social Security Office to request the review. You also may call our toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213, to request an appeal. People who are deaf or hard of hearing can call our toll-free TTY number, 1-800-325-0778.
ping
don’t get me started. The most fraud ridden programs on the face of the Earth. And, I believe, has ruined people lives and generations. I have seen perfectly healthy people go on these programs and then have no reason to get up in the morning. When a man has no purpose in life, his life is already over.
I know a guy who lives in Texas and is drawing disability from the Government every month. He is now working, under the table, in Arkansas and drawing his disability.
Why don’t I report it? People have done so before on others who are violating the system and nothing happened. So, why bother. The Soc. Sec. employees don’t care. This is job security for them.
yeah if you can get a crooked doctor to collude, you’re on a big dole. the gummit does not have the bandwidth to police even most of this stuff.
Welfare programs did and do similar things. The trap is sometimes more insidious because of how part time work is factored into the benefit formula — often leading beneficiaries to conclude it is financially most advantageous to do nothing at all.
I have 2 family members who ruined their lives going on SS. Depression was the reason & IMHO they were more depressed since they had nothing to do. My brother had hep c, depression from it & went on it. He could have worked but took the easy way out. Ended up dead from all the drugs he got & becoming drug addict. My brother in law’s marriage ended & he couldn’t cope with it. Even though he was cheating, he felt he should have ended it not her. He was taking all kinds of drugs but not the way he should have. He put a bullet into his head & he lived. So now he is blind & even more depressed. Both of these men could have worked & tried to work through their problems. I still wonder why they didn’t. Instead they hurt all of us around them.
There are so many stories like that..the unintended consequences of our “compassionate society” My ass. There is no compassion in enabling someone not to ever reach their potential as humans. We are a dying civilization.
I work with people with legitimate, documented disabilities (spina bifida, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, limb loss, etc.) who are struggling to make the most of their lives and reach their full potential as human beings. Those with severe disabilities that can barely work will make a few dollars an hour in sheltered workshops, and spend most of that on transportation getting to and from work. Every day is a challenge for them. The government sends them through hoops and frequently denies them medical requests.
Then, I’ll hear a story about some no-good ahole who is living off the government teat, and I want to find them and give them something to cry about.
Obesity and lack of self worth are the rewards of disability for anyone still capable in any way.
Disability is for people who absolutely cannot do anything. I’ve been “legally” disabled since 1998.However I refused the designation and benifits. Instead of taking disabilty we took our savings and started our own business. I and my wife had to return to part time work here and there to make ends meet until our business took off. The one thing I never would accept was the label disabled so long as I could still walk. Like you we watched other family members over the years take disability and they died a slow death of self loathing.
Back at ya. Nothing beats us like our own selves. We f-ing hate doctors. So many are lazy and look for the quickest way to get a patient out of their office.
Someone knows if this is the case.
ADD or ADHD - The attention deficit disorder that kids are diagnosed.
It is incurable? A lifetime disability? Lifetime SSI? Lifetime prescription of ritilin.
yitbos
You will appreciate my sister’s story. She was born somewhere directly in the middle of the “mild” to “moderate” mental retardation spectrum; she also had a hip deformity that prevented her from walking until she was several years old (and then always with a significant limp}.
My parents, decided that she should have the most normal life possible, so she was educated both in and out of school. They were told to institutionalize her when she was about five, but they refused to accept that as a possibility. She graduated from H.S. with her class, and went to community college on a special program.
She worked for nearly twenty years at regular jobs; my parents helped her purchase a small home...and although she was never truly independent (did not drive, or entirely handle her money), she went to work, helped out at the Church in the nursery, etc.
Then, when my Father passed away suddenly at a relatively young age, she simply “lost it”....which is apparently common in these situations. She was diagnosed as extremely bi-polar; her hips also finally gave out completely, necessitating a hip replacement surgery. My Mom, who had just lost her husband was forced to get Court-ordered guardianship, and it was plainly obvious that it was time to get her into a “program” such as those you described. Once her medication was stabilized, and her hips healed, she was able to work a couple of days per week doing basic office tasks at the local workshop.
Meanwhile, we applied for disability (which, might I add, she could ALWAYS have been on). Took two years, and a highly-paid attorney....and this for a person who had actually paid into the system to an extent far beyond her abilities simply because my parents did not believe in warehousing her.
Oh, and our neighbor at the time? Full on disability for years for a back injury. He built dozens of retaining walls for his beautifully landscaped lawn; was routinely seen underneath of his car working on it, and simply obviously was not “disabled” in any way. Well, he was our neighbor...until the arrest warrant for molesting a child came down. He magically managed to high-tail it to California where he apparently sustained himself quite nicely for the year before they caught him.
Total insanity.
“I know a guy who lives in Texas and is drawing disability from the Government every month. He is now working, under the table, in Arkansas and drawing his disability.”
I know a woman who actually is disabled, and can’t get a penny out of them.
The tragedy you describe is entirely in keeping with my 25 years of experience in psychiatry.
I still see a few Medicare patients these days if they are over 65, but, if they are younger than that and have Medicare because of a “psychaitric disability” other than schizophrenia, I don’t even consider evaluating them for possible acceptance into my practice.
I’m also clear, in writing, with prospective patients that I consider my job as a doctor to consist of diagnosing and treating illness, not improving people’s cases in any sort of legal or social agency scenarios, and that I don’t cooperate in such cases beyond simply sending records if they are subpoenaed.
I am also clear with prospective patients that my practice is limited to people who want to get well, and that this motivation is directly undermined whenever disability payments are involved. It has been my clear experience in 25 years in this field, that 1. Nothing is more addictive than a monthly check from the government, and 2. Because of that, especially in cases of depression or substance abuse, there is no chance that I can help them get well once they go down the road of disability.
With the small amount of productivity expected in many jobs these days, I am also of the firm opinion that almost anyone who can make it in to my office and talk with me for a while is also able to find and function in a job of some sort.
The road to great suffering has been paved with with false compassion.
I got a neighbor like that. Spends her days in the gym and believe working as a private fitness trainer under the table. Would sure like to see her investigated.
“I have seen perfectly healthy people go on these programs and then have no reason to get up in the morning.”
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Things must be different in other areas, I keep hearing about all these people in perfect health who are on disability but here where I live the stories are almost all about people who are in extremely poor health but are unable to qualify for disability. It takes a lot more than just a doctor who will say you are disabled, you have to get past an administrative court judge. There are appeals channels but they can take years and years. The goal of the system is to keep you tied up in appeals until you are at the point where you have not worked in years so you cannot file again even though you may be in far worse condition after years of being turned down. If you have not worked within recent years you cannot file a claim.
I know one man who works in hospital security now who started out straight out of college working in the disability office. He didn’t last long there, he quit and became a parole officer because he said his job at disability was a total fraud, his whole purpose was to write up reports denying benefits to people who were filing an initial claim. He was told that under no circumstances was he ever to approve a claim, approvals could only be done upon appeal.
Your mileage may vary of course, I have been told by people who should know that in many other areas the situation is far different. My wife fought the system for twelve years before finally being approved after going through more appeals than I can even recount. Only a small fraction of one percent ever go through the whole chain that she went through. We were told by people who worked in the system that we should get divorced and live apart if we wanted her to be approved. Ostensibly only her work record and her health were involved but in practice I am told that things are very different.
To illustrate how screwed up the system is, at one point she appealed her case after being denied by one judge and after months and months her appeal was granted so she got a new hearing...BEFORE THE SAME JUDGE! Naturally he denied her claim again and she appealed again, the next time she got a different judge and he granted her benefits beginning five years before his decision. He reviewed the same records that other judges had used to reach a decision denying her claim. Remember now, this is after twelve years of hearings so she was denied benefits for the first seven years even though a number of doctors had been saying that she should not have been working for the last ten years that she did work.
If people are getting disability benefits while engaging in strenuous activities and working full time off the books they must have an inside connection. I have seen the working of the system and I wouldn’t know where to start to get a healthy person approved. I have very little encouragement for a truly disabled person who is trying to gain approval.
By the way, my wife had been treated by doctors for years for at least two conditions that are listed on the social security disability web page as “automatic qualifiers”! The judge’s reason for denying her was given in these words, “The doctors are not credible”. The judge was substituting his opinion for the word of multiple doctors who have excellent reputations in the community. What it all boils down to is that she would never have been approved had not the judge at one hearing said in front of an attorney, “You don’t look sick”. That comment resulted in another appeal being granted. The judge had made it plain that her appearance meant more than a doctor’s opinion. A judge with no medical training whatsoever substituted his visual appraisal for the opinions of multiple doctors.
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