Why are so many Americans on disability?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know someone that has a full time job making $200,000, gets full veteran disability benefits of around $4,500 a month, and pays no state property tax because they’re ex military. They use the handicap parking spaces too even though it’s a psychological injury, which is odd because I’ve always thought those spaces were for people in wheelchairs and physically limiting disabilities.

Politicians don’t want to address this because it’s political suicide but we are all getting ripped off.

This is my BIL except he also gets free in-state tuition for his kids, in addition to the above. Plus his retirement pay. I believe the 100% disability pay AND the retirement pay are both tax free in VA.

Are we related? This is my BIL in VA as well. They were so mad last year when the in-state tuition waiver was being discussed.

[Anonymous]

I have a disability and receive SSDI in Virginia. You cannot make more than $1500 a month working and keep your disability. Through the Ticket to Work program, there is some leeway in making more than $1500 a month without disqualifying for benefits, but even then Substantial Gainful Activity is limited to only 9 months total out of a lifetime. Being disabled has created a very difficult 10 year health crisis that I have had to painfully adjust to. My disability has caused me job loss, housing crisis, homelessness, family law issues even with custody for my child when it was weaponized against me.

I am a well educated MBA that has 25 years of professional experience. My last hourly rate was $150/hr. I would gladly go back to being a full functioning healthy person that is able to work and live out my life’s dreams if I could. It took me a long time to admit I had a disability, because it is embarassing and disability discrimination is real.

The SSA disability benefits if applied in totality may help to level the playing field but it also takes a lot of work to qualify for related government and public programs. Waiting lists are long, selections are few, and the quality of life is still diminished.

I have paid into this system with a high salary for many years and was (wrongfully) dropped from my private disability insurance during covid. I am not abusing the system by receiving benefits that I am legally entitled to as a disability worker.

Some of the anecdotal evidence in this thread is misleading.

Thank you to the SSA worker and Pro Bono disability advocate posting in this thread for clarifying and stating actual facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Huge % of 20 year military claim stress, file for ptsd and receive additional benefits. It’s like a right of passage at this point. And it’s very senior people too. Who go on to work private sector and contractor jobs plus vet plus disability payments.

You really suck. Like big time.

—child of ptsd parent from war

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not get a job and work? There are quadriplegics on ventilators who work. There are people with severe multiple sclerosis who don't demand our tax dollar support them. Why can't you work?

Because Democrats have so bastardized the disability requirements that merely being a cross-dressing male makes a person eligible for disability. You'd be shocked by the utterly frivolous lifestyle choices that make a person eligible for disability as Democrats have expanded the criteria over and over again.

I work for SSA and do disability claims for a living. This is a lie. Disability criteria has not changed meaningfully in the last two decades. The biggest change made it harder, not easier to qualify for disability based on mental impairments (12.00 impairments) or musculoskeletal impairments (1.00 impairments). For a mental only disability you generally need schizophrenia, psychosis, very severe bipolar that doesn’t respond to treatment or a very low IQ.

It’s also very, if you are under 55. Even over 55, it’s unlikely if you’ve done skilled or higher level semi skilled work in the last 5 years.

Also, if active substance abuse contributes to your disability, you don’t qualify.

And yes, a large percent of applicants are vets.

Get your facts right.

I do pro bono work helping homeless clients apply for SSDI and this all tracks with the various cases I’ve handled. I have actually yet to get a client approved where the sole disability listing is mental impairment because it is not severe enough to qualify. And of course have seen many issues where drug use led to denial.

But the reality is a lawyer well versed in SSI/SSDI knows what to say and what not to say.

I know people who have destroyed their bodies with drugs and alcohol who currently receive SSDI. The lawyer who completed the paperwork for them (same lawyer for both) focused on their mental and physical health issues (noting liver and kidney disease were definitely caused by alcohol abuse which was presumably prompted by underlying anxiety, depression and bipolar). I didn’t actually see the paperwork; I’m relying on what was told to me by the people receiving the benefits. The two I’m thinking of are in their early 50s and haven’t held a job since their 20s.

But they travel. They live a nice life. Their parents largely underwrite their living expenses.

Ftr, I’m all for disability benefits. I just question why these people I know IRL can check out of life and not work like the rest of us.

+1

My BIL is in this category. Not a vet. An absolute jerk who managed to hire a specialist lawyer and now he plays video games and sleeps for a lot of the day because of his claimed mental disability.

I’m sorry, but I do not believe that these are all vets with PTSD. Most of the people I know IRL with some form of disability benefits seem to be scamming at some level.

[Anonymous]

Well, in my family it's either one of two reasons:
1. lost a good job & looks down on all other available jobs
2. lazy (often learned laziness from the parent in #1)

Both of my parents are from WV. 90% of my relatives still live in WV.

When my uncles and cousins lost their coal mining jobs, most never really got other jobs. Why? Because when you were a coal miner in WV, you were living like a king. You were WV rich. There are not many jobs in WV where someone with no education can earn $60k-90k/year. Going from working as a miner to working at Dollar General or Kroger is the equivalent of someone in our area going from working as a Fed to working at Walmart. Everyone who has worked in a mine has some kind of injury that they can milk to get on disability, so that's what they've all done. They ride out the SSDI until they're old enough to 'retire' and get their regular Social Security.

Some of my cousins were able to go from coal mining to working on the pipelines. Switching from mining to pipeline work was much easier for the younger guys than the older ones like my uncles. When all you've known from age 16/17 is coal mining, anything else can be scary, I suppose.

[Anonymous]

Seems like most of the people complaining about the SSDI program really know nothing about it except what FOX and the GOP tell them.

And ironically the WVA family members in the post above are likely Trump voters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like most of the people complaining about the SSDI program really know nothing about it except what FOX and the GOP tell them.

And ironically the WVA family members in the post above are likely Trump voters.

There are military benefits for veterans.

There is SSDI.

And there is also SSI.

NPR has done a number of in depth series on SSDI and SSI. One focused on how it’s become a go to tool for doctors trying to help people in rural America where there simply aren’t any job options for low-skill workers who can’t do manual labor. It was fascinating.

We need programs like this. Obviously.

But it is interesting how so many of us work through pain (even in manual labor jobs) while others opt not to. The npr segments sort of hinted at this by tying it to poverty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like most of the people complaining about the SSDI program really know nothing about it except what FOX and the GOP tell them.

And ironically the WVA family members in the post above are likely Trump voters.

They indeed are.

They get big mad when I point out that WV has been voting Republican for a long time and hasn't improved at all. And even though he was a Democrat, I consider Joe Manchin to be a Republican, I'm sorry.

[Anonymous]

My uncle was on disability for much of his adult life.

Why? Because he contracted HIV in his late 20s in the 1980s and SSI paid for his HIV medications. He was caught in a catch-22: if he made too much money, he would lose access to his HIV medication and die. Because we don't have universal health care.

So he lived in a constant state of anxiety and depression. Worried about making too much money, he held a series of cash jobs throughout his life with less-than-ideal working conditions. This prevented him from increasing his skill set and going into more lucrative professions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like most of the people complaining about the SSDI program really know nothing about it except what FOX and the GOP tell them.

And ironically the WVA family members in the post above are likely Trump voters.

Invisible disabilities get long term benies too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My uncle was on disability for much of his adult life.

Why? Because he contracted HIV in his late 20s in the 1980s and SSI paid for his HIV medications. He was caught in a catch-22: if he made too much money, he would lose access to his HIV medication and die. Because we don't have universal health care.

So he lived in a constant state of anxiety and depression. Worried about making too much money, he held a series of cash jobs throughout his life with less-than-ideal working conditions. This prevented him from increasing his skill set and going into more lucrative professions.

Thank goodness the HIV treatment was developed and tested for $$$billions and it worked alright.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not get a job and work? There are quadriplegics on ventilators who work. There are people with severe multiple sclerosis who don't demand our tax dollar support them. Why can't you work?

Same as with illegal immigration, why wouldn’t you file to go on additional disability pay. It’s there to take.

[Anonymous]

Because we don't have Universal Healthcare, people get hurt or have substandard care, and then they are unable to work very much.

One of my friends had a spinal stroke, the red state hospital near her completely misdiagnosed her so it took her a while to get help, and then she had to beg for money from friends and relatives until SSDI finally came through for her two years later. 5 years later she is now almost on her way towards physically being able to work part time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because we don't have Universal Healthcare, people get hurt or have substandard care, and then they are unable to work very much.

One of my friends had a spinal stroke, the red state hospital near her completely misdiagnosed her so it took her a while to get help, and then she had to beg for money from friends and relatives until SSDI finally came through for her two years later. 5 years later she is now almost on her way towards physically being able to work part time.

If we had Universal Healthcare, we would tip over. There's not enough money in the world for that.

You have half the population not paying income taxes and you want to dole out free health care to everyone. Seriously, why should anyone bother working at all?

You would have to raise taxes, immediately. If you look at Universal Health Care in European countries, you'll quickly find their tax code is not nearly as progressive as ours. IOW, everyone pays.

Even if you raise taxes, you don't have the medical and health care workers to service the demand, so you would have long wait times. We already have that for medical specialists. You'd have to ration care.

Who the hell is going to wait in line for months-years, while paying a substantial amount of their pay for non-existent health care (non-existent for them, because anytime they call upon it, they're told to wait indefinitely).

Once again, why should anyone bother working at all?



"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

- Marcus Aurelius

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are way too fat and take too many drugs.

Ain't it the truth.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/forums/show/75.page