Posted on 12/01/2012 5:34:52 PM PST by Hojczyk
Americans are very generous to people with disabilities. Since passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, millions of public and private dollars have been spent on curb cuts, bus lifts, and special elevators.
The idea has been to enable people with disabilities to live and work with the same ease as others as they make their way forward in life. I feel sure the large majority of Americans are pleased that we are doing this.
But there is another federal program for people with disabilities that has had an unhappier effect. This is the disability-insurance (DI) program, which is part of Social Security.
The idea is to provide income for those whose health makes them unable to work. For many years, it was a small and inexpensive program that few people or politicians paid much attention to.
In his recent book, A Nation of Takers: America’s Entitlement Epidemic, my American Enterprise Institute colleague Nicholas Eberstadt has shown how DI has grown in recent years.
In 1960, some 455,000 workers were receiving disability payments. In 2011, the number was 8,600,000. In 1960, the percentage of the economically active population aged 18 to 64 years old receiving disability benefits was 0.65 percent. In 2010, it was 5.6 percent.
“It is exceptionally difficult — for all practical purposes, impossible,” writes Eberstadt, “for a medical professional to disprove a patient’s claim that he or she is suffering from sad feelings or back pain.”
In 2011, 15 percent of disability recipients were in their 30s or early 40s. Concludes Eberstadt, “Collecting disability is an increasingly important profession in America these days.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
BALONEY!! I have heart disease, edema, diabetes, high blood pressure, hearing loss, PAD and more and have been turned down flat three times!!
If you are in a wheel chair, you can start a good career suing hotels and others with pools. Obama extended the Americans with Disabilities act to include swimming pool access, and it is in effect now. Check into a hotel and ask to use the pool. If they don’t have a lift, ka-ching, its payday.
BALONEY!! I have heart disease, edema, diabetes, high blood pressure, hearing loss, PAD and more and have been turned down flat three times!!
Unfortunately, many who get the DI benefits are well lawyered up
One of the most common billboards seen in Appalachia are those of Disability Lawyers who seek “those who want to go on disability”. It is a big racket in many parts of this country
Your situation does not surprise me
A two decade long scam. America would be a better place if we could round up all the lawyers and put them on a calving glacier.
Indeed, the ADA is a travesty as implemented and I suspect the cost is in the billions, not millions.
I was told when I applied, I would most likely be turned down, but I was accepted almost immediately. I can’t prove it, but I think it was because I was collecting from a private disability policy. SS may have assumed that if I was already collecting from a private carrier, I must be disabled. The private carrier scrutinized my medical records thoroughly and even sent me to its own doctor. SS supposedly will also send me to its doctor if warranted, but so far, it hasn’t.
It might also be a random thing. I also had a private company do all the application paperwork. Was told I would be more likely to be approved if I had professionals complete the application than if I did it on my own.
It bugs me that there is no consistency in the process. People who can work are granted benefits. Those who can’t may be turned down. Especially bad if you’ve paid into the system and can’t collect, while some slouched can
My cousin is one of those-a loser who is also a know-it-all.
Your ailments aren’t as important as where you apply at.
” Since passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, millions of public and private dollars have been spent on curb cuts, bus lifts, and special elevators.”
Millions? It has to be in the tens of billions!
I know one of those. He's a truck driver (or was) and can't drive a truck because of "brain injury". Doesn't seem to have any problem driving a car or doing anything else. I should also mention, before he was injured he spent time in jail for a "violent sex offense" according to the registry.
It is also because private disability insurance companies push people onto SSDI.
Silly white man, tricks are for minorities.
Not to mention the thousands of hospitals and ambulances that had to upgrade equipment to accommodate the quarter ton crowd.
Not necessarily so...I’m watching a family member go through divorce and the dude is an absolute ZERO. She is a minority working nurse with two special needs kids (also his). He gets SSI, about $800/mo for the kids and she has to pay him $400/mo. He blew their savings day trading and even took out a second mortgage and blew that too. They had to file for bankruptcy. He’s a 60 yo white frickin ba$tard, she is a mid-40s asian hottie. Still is. He was a real skirt chaser as long as I’ve known him. Playboy type who is all used up.
Not necessarily so...I’m watching a family member go through divorce and the dude is an absolute ZERO. She is a minority working nurse with two special needs kids (also his). He gets SSI, about $800/mo for the kids and she has to pay him $400/mo. He blew their savings day trading and even took out a second mortgage and blew that too. They had to file for bankruptcy. He’s a 60 yo white frickin ba$tard, she is a mid-40s asian hottie. Still is. He was a real skirt chaser as long as I’ve known him. Playboy type who is all used up.
I’ve heard that applications for some classes of people are almost always denied the first time around. I am not an expert on it.
I interview lots of people on DI. Apparently the trick is to hire a lawyer who specializes in getting folks on DI.
I’ve been told it takes up to two years for the process.
I have MS, I’ve never tried to apply because I have a job that accommodates my MS and I’m able to work from home. If I had to go into an office, then I probably would have to apply for disability (my work involves sitting in a recliner with a laptop.) I could not physically make it into an office each day.
But lots of folks in the MS community are denied. Seems to me that when they get a lawyer, they do get approved, but then the lawyer gets some huge percentage of the payback from SS.
I will say this, I know folks in the MS community, on disability, who would love to be able to work. They are only on disability because they can’t hold down a job due to their disability. I, personally, find my job a distraction from my disease, and I like that about it. It fills up my day, keeps my mind active, and I think that being on disability would make my life pretty boring. So I plan to work, Lord willing, until I absolutely can’t do it anymore.
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