Abuse of Social Programs

[kar3333]

I have an ex-boyfriend who's 40 year old roomate currently collects disability on the government because she cannot "breathe properly". She is on oxygen however she smokes close to a carton of cigarrettes a day as well as uses the money to buy drugs. Because she is on oxygen the government also pays her electric bill - which is always unusually high due to the fact that they have purchased expensive lighting because they use these lights to grow marijuana plants. Is this an abuse of our programs? How typical are these situations and what can be done?

 

[Samson]

I have an ex-boyfriend who's 40 year old roomate currently collects disability on the government because she cannot "breathe properly". She is on oxygen however she smokes close to a carton of cigarrettes a day as well as uses the money to buy drugs. Because she is on oxygen the government also pays her electric bill - which is always unusually high due to the fact that they have purchased expensive lighting because they use these lights to grow marijuana plants. Is this an abuse of our programs? How typical are these situations and what can be done?

No, no, no.....it's not "Abuse of Programs."

As long as it's part of the Stimulous Bill funding, then its OK.

 

[frazzledgear]

I have an ex-boyfriend who's 40 year old roomate currently collects disability on the government because she cannot "breathe properly". She is on oxygen however she smokes close to a carton of cigarrettes a day as well as uses the money to buy drugs. Because she is on oxygen the government also pays her electric bill - which is always unusually high due to the fact that they have purchased expensive lighting because they use these lights to grow marijuana plants. Is this an abuse of our programs? How typical are these situations and what can be done?

Disability does not come with requirements to give up one's unhealthy lifestyle and try to improve one's life expectancy after becoming disabled. And think very, very hard about whether you want that changed or not. This woman really IS disabled. The fact her own unhealthy choices along the way caused or contributed to her disability is irrelevant. The fact her poor health hasn't given her a wake up call to start making better choices in order to prolong her life is irrelevant. It is still HER life and very possibly she doesn't want it prolonged if it means living longer but without cigarettes. It isn't YOUR life and it isn't government's. This is about someone personal judgment about what gives them pleasure in their life -NOT an example of FRAUD or of ABUSE of the program! If she is a smoker and on oxygen it means she has COPD -chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and probably emphysema as well. It is a disease where the least bit of exertion can leave the individual gasping for air and it often results in people being hospitalized in crisis where even being on oxygen will not provide enough oxygen. If she requires oxygen I guarantee you there is no way she is smoking nearly 10 PACKS of cigarettes a day! Healthy lungs would have a difficult time with that, but damaged ones could not at all. Her cigarettes may be lit, but she could not survive outside of a hospital setting while sucking on 10 packs of cigarettes a day with such badly damaged lungs she requires oxygen just to exist! Plus I think its more than $40 a carton now and maybe more. The average disability payment is $700 though. She'd be out of money before the month was half over -and it would only last that long for cigarettes if she NEVER EATS, NEVER pays a single bill, NEVER bought any clothes and pays NO RENT or mortgage! Get real. But you have a hawk eye as the officially appointed watch dog of this woman counting her every cigarette, right?

If you deny her disability it will not change the fact this woman is permanently disabled and can NEVER work again. Do you understand that? Even if she stopped smoking she will NEVER be able to work again because her lung disease is PERMANENT. Cutting off her disability because she didn't quit smoking like YOU think she should have - changes nothing except to inflict even more misery on her already miserable life. Even if you resent the fact she isn't trying to maintain her health even after her activities have left her disabled she still cannot support herself ever again regardless of whether she smokes or not. Her life, her mobility and her ability to enjoy many of the outlets and joys of life you and I enjoy and even take for granted as we do - are forever shut to her now whether she smokes or not. Even though she did it to herself, NOTHING she does now will undo this reality for her. So what you really resent is the fact she still engages in the very activity that led to her disability. But she does because it is one of the very few things left to this woman that she is still able to do and enjoys. Even knowing it led to her disability doesn't make her stop enjoying it and knowing that if she quit she will still be permanently disabled may have played a role in why she chooses to continue. Even if YOUR holier-than-thou reaction is HOW DARE SHE STILL SMOKE AFTER IT DISABLED HER! If she stops it won't UN-DISABLE her! Her options are to give up what few things she still enjoys in order to hang on a little (but not much) longer to an extremely restricted life where very few options for pleasure exist -or enjoy what pleasures are still available and enjoy what little pleasures still exist in her life even if it shortens her life! That's it -cure is not on the table and neither is a full, productive life! She is actually DYING -and now its just a matter of when, not if.

I don't give a crap if she smokes. I say whatever is left in life she still enjoys -GO FOR IT. Because life for her is never going to be what it is for you or me and I refuse to engage in the JUDGMENTAL bullshit that she should be forced to stop doing the few things left to her that she finds pleasurable or be threatened with having her disability yanked. ESPECIALLY when it won't make her un-disabled. And you will only have insured what is left of her life is even MORE miserable and unbearable for her. Sorry, but I just don't get off on that shit. If someone is so disabled they cannot work again -then who the hell is ANYONE to insist they MUST deny themselves even the few things left in their life they still find enjoyable -even if they are things YOU choose not to do or YOU think they shouldn't be doing!

If you are looking for a silver lining here as a taxpayer, then every time you see her light up just remind yourself that with every cigarette she is only insuring she won't be receiving disability for long because her disease combined with her smoking and drug use means her life expectancy is exceedingly short. It costs less for taxpayers if she dies faster continuing on as she is than it would if she made healthier choices at this point and prolonged her life for years more -because she is never going to be able to work again. The ONLY way off the hook for taxpayers at this point -is if she DIES. If she dies sooner, its cheaper on taxpayers but she may at least get more enjoyment out of what's left of her life than living a little bit longer but more miserable! So you are really complaining that this woman is doing things that will actually lighten YOUR taxpayer burden because she is shortening her own life expectancy!?! Get over it and yourself -and mind your own business.

Try to remember this woman hasn't much of a life at all and stop begrudging her the few things she can still do she finds enjoyable even if YOU don't approve of it and even though it actually caused her disability in the first place. At THIS point it won't change her disability or her ability to support herself. So if she wants to continue smoking even though it will continue to shorten her life expectancy just remind yourself that first and foremost -it is HER life. Try to avoid the liberal mentality that its your job to monitor how other people choose to live their lives and sit in judgment as if your personal opinion is supposed to replace their own -even though you aren't the one who has to actually experience and live it! And secondly by continuing to smoke she is actually shortening the time your tax dollars will continue going to her support. Or would you feel better about it if she was forced to stop smoking and then she found that just enough to tip the balance and decide life held so little pleasure anymore that she saw no reason to live and just put a bullet in her head? Just so you can indulge in your holier-than-thou crap that believes it is justified to make a miserable life even more miserable because YOUR feelings are what counts here -not hers? Like I said, just not my thing.

FYI -it is disability INSURANCE. The only difference is her policy was taken out with the government instead of a private company. She PAID into it. If she hadn't paid for it during her working life she couldn't get disability payments at all and would have to go on welfare. We don't make people on welfare stop drinking and stop doing drugs to get their welfare check but for THAT the recipient paid NOTHING. It is a true entitlement -that simply breathing entitles you to the money. Unlike disability where only those workers who paid into it (or were born permanently disabled) can collect disability. Want to change it that only people with lifestyles you personally approve of are allowed to receive disability even if they paid for it -while welfare recipients don't have to change a damn thing to get a handout? Who died and made you king?

Now you want to bitch about disability, think about this instead. The floodgates have been opened so that just about anything more serious than a head cold is "disabled". In THIS country today 1 out of 19 people is receiving disability payments. But unlike your neighbor on oxygen who really is disabled, let's not pretend that every 5th person in this country really is disabled and unable to work! No nation can exist for long with the increasing percentages of people who are TRULY abusing the system. Find the REAL fraud going on here because there are plenty of people receiving disability checks and scamming the system which will destroy it. And leave that poor dying woman alone.

 

[Tank]

How typical are these situations and what can be done?

They are getting more "typical" all the time, once people are on the government teet it's dam near impossible to wean them.

This will not change till the teet runs dry.

 

[Gadawg73]

I have an ex-boyfriend who's 40 year old roomate currently collects disability on the government because she cannot "breathe properly". She is on oxygen however she smokes close to a carton of cigarrettes a day as well as uses the money to buy drugs. Because she is on oxygen the government also pays her electric bill - which is always unusually high due to the fact that they have purchased expensive lighting because they use these lights to grow marijuana plants. Is this an abuse of our programs? How typical are these situations and what can be done?

Disability does not come with requirements to give up one's unhealthy lifestyle and try to improve one's life expectancy after becoming disabled. And think very, very hard about whether you want that changed or not. This woman really IS disabled. The fact her own unhealthy choices along the way caused or contributed to her disability is irrelevant. The fact her poor health hasn't given her a wake up call to start making better choices in order to prolong her life is irrelevant. It is still HER life and very possibly she doesn't want it prolonged if it means living longer but without cigarettes. It isn't YOUR life and it isn't government's. This is about someone personal judgment about what gives them pleasure in their life -NOT an example of FRAUD or of ABUSE of the program! If she is a smoker and on oxygen it means she has COPD -chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and probably emphysema as well. It is a disease where the least bit of exertion can leave the individual gasping for air and it often results in people being hospitalized in crisis where even being on oxygen will not provide enough oxygen. If she requires oxygen I guarantee you there is no way she is smoking nearly 10 PACKS of cigarettes a day! Healthy lungs would have a difficult time with that, but damaged ones could not at all. Her cigarettes may be lit, but she could not survive outside of a hospital setting while sucking on 10 packs of cigarettes a day with such badly damaged lungs she requires oxygen just to exist! Plus I think its more than $40 a carton now and maybe more. The average disability payment is $700 though. She'd be out of money before the month was half over -and it would only last that long for cigarettes if she NEVER EATS, NEVER pays a single bill, NEVER bought any clothes and pays NO RENT or mortgage! Get real. But you have a hawk eye as the officially appointed watch dog of this woman counting her every cigarette, right?

If you deny her disability it will not change the fact this woman is permanently disabled and can NEVER work again. Do you understand that? Even if she stopped smoking she will NEVER be able to work again because her lung disease is PERMANENT. Cutting off her disability because she didn't quit smoking like YOU think she should have - changes nothing except to inflict even more misery on her already miserable life. Even if you resent the fact she isn't trying to maintain her health even after her activities have left her disabled she still cannot support herself ever again regardless of whether she smokes or not. Her life, her mobility and her ability to enjoy many of the outlets and joys of life you and I enjoy and even take for granted as we do - are forever shut to her now whether she smokes or not. Even though she did it to herself, NOTHING she does now will undo this reality for her. So what you really resent is the fact she still engages in the very activity that led to her disability. But she does because it is one of the very few things left to this woman that she is still able to do and enjoys. Even knowing it led to her disability doesn't make her stop enjoying it and knowing that if she quit she will still be permanently disabled may have played a role in why she chooses to continue. Even if YOUR holier-than-thou reaction is HOW DARE SHE STILL SMOKE AFTER IT DISABLED HER! If she stops it won't UN-DISABLE her! Her options are to give up what few things she still enjoys in order to hang on a little (but not much) longer to an extremely restricted life where very few options for pleasure exist -or enjoy what pleasures are still available and enjoy what little pleasures still exist in her life even if it shortens her life! That's it -cure is not on the table and neither is a full, productive life! She is actually DYING -and now its just a matter of when, not if.

I don't give a crap if she smokes. I say whatever is left in life she still enjoys -GO FOR IT. Because life for her is never going to be what it is for you or me and I refuse to engage in the JUDGMENTAL bullshit that she should be forced to stop doing the few things left to her that she finds pleasurable or be threatened with having her disability yanked. ESPECIALLY when it won't make her un-disabled. And you will only have insured what is left of her life is even MORE miserable and unbearable for her. Sorry, but I just don't get off on that shit. If someone is so disabled they cannot work again -then who the hell is ANYONE to insist they MUST deny themselves even the few things left in their life they still find enjoyable -even if they are things YOU choose not to do or YOU think they shouldn't be doing!

If you are looking for a silver lining here as a taxpayer, then every time you see her light up just remind yourself that with every cigarette she is only insuring she won't be receiving disability for long because her disease combined with her smoking and drug use means her life expectancy is exceedingly short. It costs less for taxpayers if she dies faster continuing on as she is than it would if she made healthier choices at this point and prolonged her life for years more -because she is never going to be able to work again. The ONLY way off the hook for taxpayers at this point -is if she DIES. If she dies sooner, its cheaper on taxpayers but she may at least get more enjoyment out of what's left of her life than living a little bit longer but more miserable! So you are really complaining that this woman is doing things that will actually lighten YOUR taxpayer burden because she is shortening her own life expectancy!?! Get over it and yourself -and mind your own business.

Try to remember this woman hasn't much of a life at all and stop begrudging her the few things she can still do she finds enjoyable even if YOU don't approve of it and even though it actually caused her disability in the first place. At THIS point it won't change her disability or her ability to support herself. So if she wants to continue smoking even though it will continue to shorten her life expectancy just remind yourself that first and foremost -it is HER life. Try to avoid the liberal mentality that its your job to monitor how other people choose to live their lives and sit in judgment as if your personal opinion is supposed to replace their own -even though you aren't the one who has to actually experience and live it! And secondly by continuing to smoke she is actually shortening the time your tax dollars will continue going to her support. Or would you feel better about it if she was forced to stop smoking and then she found that just enough to tip the balance and decide life held so little pleasure anymore that she saw no reason to live and just put a bullet in her head? Just so you can indulge in your holier-than-thou crap that believes it is justified to make a miserable life even more miserable because YOUR feelings are what counts here -not hers? Like I said, just not my thing.

FYI -it is disability INSURANCE. The only difference is her policy was taken out with the government instead of a private company. She PAID into it. If she hadn't paid for it during her working life she couldn't get disability payments at all and would have to go on welfare. We don't make people on welfare stop drinking and stop doing drugs to get their welfare check but for THAT the recipient paid NOTHING. It is a true entitlement -that simply breathing entitles you to the money. Unlike disability where only those workers who paid into it (or were born permanently disabled) can collect disability. Want to change it that only people with lifestyles you personally approve of are allowed to receive disability even if they paid for it -while welfare recipients don't have to change a damn thing to get a handout? Who died and made you king?

Now you want to bitch about disability, think about this instead. The floodgates have been opened so that just about anything more serious than a head cold is "disabled". In THIS country today 1 out of 19 people is receiving disability payments. But unlike your neighbor on oxygen who really is disabled, let's not pretend that every 5th person in this country really is disabled and unable to work! No nation can exist for long with the increasing percentages of people who are TRULY abusing the system. Find the REAL fraud going on here because there are plenty of people receiving disability checks and scamming the system which will destroy it. And leave that poor dying woman alone.

As a citizen in a socialized medical disability program she has a duty to practice health decisions that affect her health positively.
Most private insurers regularly check up on their disability patients and if they do not follow certain guidelines for their recovery and therapy then they do not receive further disability payments.
Our tax dollars are not grown on trees and the amount of $ that is paid into the system as social security is not even close to an acturial dollar amount of current and future claims for disability.
The system should not reward her for bad choices. It doesn't in the provate sector and it should not in the public.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Perhaps some of you saw it - on Judge Judy a few weeks back - a young girl, I think she said she was 20, was suing someone.
Skipping the whole story and just listing the facts:

1) She was getting $1400 a month in unemployment from a state agency that takes medicare money and pays for home healthcare "professionals" to care of bed-ridden elderly. (She has zero previous experience)
2) The woman she was "working" to take care of was her grandmother.
3) She received $907 every 2 weeks.
4) She was "laid off".
5) Her Aunt was "hired" to replace her.
6) The girl herself was "hired" in the first place to replace her Mother who is CURRENTLY also receiving $1400 a month in unemployment for being "laid off".

Total cost to taxpayers per month for all 3 women: $4614

Anyone want to bet that this agency is in on the scam...and very likely many others?

 

[Gadawg73]

Perhaps some of you saw it - on Judge Judy a few weeks back - a young girl, I think she said she was 20, was suing someone.
Skipping the whole story and just listing the facts:

1) She was getting $1400 a month in unemployment from a state agency that takes medicare money and pays for home healthcare "professionals" to care of bed-ridden elderly. (She has zero previous experience)
2) The woman she was "working" to take care of was her grandmother.
3) She received $907 every 2 weeks.
4) She was "laid off".
5) Her Aunt was "hired" to replace her.
6) The girl herself was "hired" in the first place to replace her Mother who is CURRENTLY also receiving $1400 a month in unemployment for being "laid off".

Total cost to taxpayers per month for all 3 women: $4614

Anyone want to bet that this agency is in on the scam...and very likely many others?

I saw it and JJ dismissed her case. But not all 3 received it at the same time. The testimony may have indicated that but that is not how it works.
No matter how it works I oppose that. HH is abused by all.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Perhaps some of you saw it - on Judge Judy a few weeks back - a young girl, I think she said she was 20, was suing someone.
Skipping the whole story and just listing the facts:

1) She was getting $1400 a month in unemployment from a state agency that takes medicare money and pays for home healthcare "professionals" to care of bed-ridden elderly. (She has zero previous experience)
2) The woman she was "working" to take care of was her grandmother.
3) She received $907 every 2 weeks.
4) She was "laid off".
5) Her Aunt was "hired" to replace her.
6) The girl herself was "hired" in the first place to replace her Mother who is CURRENTLY also receiving $1400 a month in unemployment for being "laid off".

Total cost to taxpayers per month for all 3 women: $4614

Anyone want to bet that this agency is in on the scam...and very likely many others?

I saw it and JJ dismissed her case. But not all 3 received it at the same time. The testimony may have indicated that but that is not how it works.
No matter how it works I oppose that. HH is abused by all.

She regularly dismisses cases filed by people she learns is scamming the system.
My bad I guess on the thinking all 3 got it at same time....at any rate...3 family members getting paid and receiving unemployment for absolutely nothing is as unbelievable as it is common.

 

[editec]

I have an ex-boyfriend who's 40 year old roomate currently collects disability on the government because she cannot "breathe properly". She is on oxygen however she smokes close to a carton of cigarrettes a day as well as uses the money to buy drugs. Because she is on oxygen the government also pays her electric bill - which is always unusually high due to the fact that they have purchased expensive lighting because they use these lights to grow marijuana plants. Is this an abuse of our programs? How typical are these situations and what can be done?

I once worked for a very wealthy chum who specialized in buying up slums and filling them with Chapter 8 housing clients because he knew he could maintain those places as slums ( the government paid far too much for the rents there) and get away with it as long as he bribed the right people.

What ought to be done about people like that?

 

[sangha]

Perhaps some of you saw it - on Judge Judy a few weeks back - a young girl, I think she said she was 20, was suing someone.
Skipping the whole story and just listing the facts:

1) She was getting $1400 a month in unemployment from a state agency that takes medicare money and pays for home healthcare "professionals" to care of bed-ridden elderly. (She has zero previous experience)
2) The woman she was "working" to take care of was her grandmother.
3) She received $907 every 2 weeks.
4) She was "laid off".
5) Her Aunt was "hired" to replace her.
6) The girl herself was "hired" in the first place to replace her Mother who is CURRENTLY also receiving $1400 a month in unemployment for being "laid off".

Total cost to taxpayers per month for all 3 women: $4614

Anyone want to bet that this agency is in on the scam...and very likely many others?

You are lying. I saw the same show, and you are lying about the circumstances.

For example, Medicare doesn't pay for unemployment. They are two completely different programs. She was being paid by Medicare to care for her mom.

It's a special program Medicare has. When my mom was first diagnosed with Alzheimers, I stopped working and applied for the program, but I was not eligible for it

 

[sangha]

Perhaps some of you saw it - on Judge Judy a few weeks back - a young girl, I think she said she was 20, was suing someone.
Skipping the whole story and just listing the facts:

1) She was getting $1400 a month in unemployment from a state agency that takes medicare money and pays for home healthcare "professionals" to care of bed-ridden elderly. (She has zero previous experience)
2) The woman she was "working" to take care of was her grandmother.
3) She received $907 every 2 weeks.
4) She was "laid off".
5) Her Aunt was "hired" to replace her.
6) The girl herself was "hired" in the first place to replace her Mother who is CURRENTLY also receiving $1400 a month in unemployment for being "laid off".

Total cost to taxpayers per month for all 3 women: $4614

Anyone want to bet that this agency is in on the scam...and very likely many others?

I saw it and JJ dismissed her case. But not all 3 received it at the same time. The testimony may have indicated that but that is not how it works.
No matter how it works I oppose that. HH is abused by all.

She regularly dismisses cases filed by people she learns is scamming the system.
My bad I guess on the thinking all 3 got it at same time....at any rate...3 family members getting paid and receiving unemployment for absolutely nothing is as unbelievable as it is common.

In wingnut world, you have to be employed to collect unemployment

 

[WillowTree]

I have an ex-boyfriend who's 40 year old roomate currently collects disability on the government because she cannot "breathe properly". She is on oxygen however she smokes close to a carton of cigarrettes a day as well as uses the money to buy drugs. Because she is on oxygen the government also pays her electric bill - which is always unusually high due to the fact that they have purchased expensive lighting because they use these lights to grow marijuana plants. Is this an abuse of our programs? How typical are these situations and what can be done?

Solid case of why everyone should be drug tested before they get they gubbmint check.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Perhaps some of you saw it - on Judge Judy a few weeks back - a young girl, I think she said she was 20, was suing someone.
Skipping the whole story and just listing the facts:

1) She was getting $1400 a month in unemployment from a state agency that takes medicare money and pays for home healthcare "professionals" to care of bed-ridden elderly. (She has zero previous experience)
2) The woman she was "working" to take care of was her grandmother.
3) She received $907 every 2 weeks.
4) She was "laid off".
5) Her Aunt was "hired" to replace her.
6) The girl herself was "hired" in the first place to replace her Mother who is CURRENTLY also receiving $1400 a month in unemployment for being "laid off".

Total cost to taxpayers per month for all 3 women: $4614

Anyone want to bet that this agency is in on the scam...and very likely many others?

You are lying. I saw the same show, and you are lying about the circumstances.

For example, Medicare doesn't pay for unemployment. They are two completely different programs. She was being paid by Medicare to care for her mom.

It's a special program Medicare has. When my mom was first diagnosed with Alzheimers, I stopped working and applied for the program, but I was not eligible for it

You know...you are an idiot.
Just a plain idiot.
If you saw the show then you are too stupid to understand English.
If you didn't see the show - then you are a troll for calling someone a liar where you don't know jack sh*t.

In either case - shut up.

 

[Madeline]

Gadawg73 wrote:

As a citizen in a socialized medical disability program she has a duty to practice health decisions that affect her health positively.
Most private insurers regularly check up on their disability patients and if they do not follow certain guidelines for their recovery and therapy then they do not receive further disability payments.
Our tax dollars are not grown on trees and the amount of $ that is paid into the system as social security is not even close to an acturial dollar amount of current and future claims for disability.
The system should not reward her for bad choices. It doesn't in the provate sector and it should not in the public.

No private disability policy has any provision whatsoever about making healthier choices in future after the initial award. NONE.

 

[Gadawg73]

I have an ex-boyfriend who's 40 year old roomate currently collects disability on the government because she cannot "breathe properly". She is on oxygen however she smokes close to a carton of cigarrettes a day as well as uses the money to buy drugs. Because she is on oxygen the government also pays her electric bill - which is always unusually high due to the fact that they have purchased expensive lighting because they use these lights to grow marijuana plants. Is this an abuse of our programs? How typical are these situations and what can be done?

Solid case of why everyone should be drug tested before they get they gubbmint check.

Corrections and parole officers deal with this on the hour. Get their opinion first and they tell you a different story in their real world.
What are you going to do? Test them every month?
The only reliable drug test out there is hair follicle.
$700 a whap.
So you pay $8400.00 a year to drug test them?
Great 30 second sound bite for a political candidate but in the real world would not work. Piss in a jar is about 50% reliable, if that.
And guess what? These folks have a gallon jug filled with PRESCRIPTION DOPE, which by law can not be included in any probation or parole violations as it is from a "doctor".
They prefer the prescription dope 10-1 anyway. That is the good stuff.

 

[sangha]

Perhaps some of you saw it - on Judge Judy a few weeks back - a young girl, I think she said she was 20, was suing someone.
Skipping the whole story and just listing the facts:

1) She was getting $1400 a month in unemployment from a state agency that takes medicare money and pays for home healthcare "professionals" to care of bed-ridden elderly. (She has zero previous experience)
2) The woman she was "working" to take care of was her grandmother.
3) She received $907 every 2 weeks.
4) She was "laid off".
5) Her Aunt was "hired" to replace her.
6) The girl herself was "hired" in the first place to replace her Mother who is CURRENTLY also receiving $1400 a month in unemployment for being "laid off".

Total cost to taxpayers per month for all 3 women: $4614

Anyone want to bet that this agency is in on the scam...and very likely many others?

You are lying. I saw the same show, and you are lying about the circumstances.

For example, Medicare doesn't pay for unemployment. They are two completely different programs. She was being paid by Medicare to care for her mom.

It's a special program Medicare has. When my mom was first diagnosed with Alzheimers, I stopped working and applied for the program, but I was not eligible for it

You know...you are an idiot.
Just a plain idiot.
If you saw the show then you are too stupid to understand English.
If you didn't see the show - then you are a troll for calling someone a liar where you don't know jack sh*t.

In either case - shut up.

This moron doesn't want to admit he claimed the woman was receiving unemployment for taking care of her mom

 

[sangha]

I have an ex-boyfriend who's 40 year old roomate currently collects disability on the government because she cannot "breathe properly". She is on oxygen however she smokes close to a carton of cigarrettes a day as well as uses the money to buy drugs. Because she is on oxygen the government also pays her electric bill - which is always unusually high due to the fact that they have purchased expensive lighting because they use these lights to grow marijuana plants. Is this an abuse of our programs? How typical are these situations and what can be done?

Solid case of why everyone should be drug tested before they get they gubbmint check.

Corrections and parole officers deal with this on the hour. Get their opinion first and they tell you a different story in their real world.
What are you going to do? Test them every month?
The only reliable drug test out there is hair follicle.
$700 a whap.
So you pay $8400.00 a year to drug test them?
Great 30 second sound bite for a political candidate but in the real world would not work. Piss in a jar is about 50% reliable, if that.
And guess what? These folks have a gallon jug filled with PRESCRIPTION DOPE, which by law can not be included in any probation or parole violations as it is from a "doctor".
They prefer the prescription dope 10-1 anyway. That is the good stuff.

Wingnuts will cut govt spending by wasting $BILLIONS$ to drug test the disabled

 

[MaggieMae]

I have an ex-boyfriend who's 40 year old roomate currently collects disability on the government because she cannot "breathe properly". She is on oxygen however she smokes close to a carton of cigarrettes a day as well as uses the money to buy drugs. Because she is on oxygen the government also pays her electric bill - which is always unusually high due to the fact that they have purchased expensive lighting because they use these lights to grow marijuana plants. Is this an abuse of our programs? How typical are these situations and what can be done?

Report him anonymously to the local social services office and request that they send a person out to follow up on his "claim." Unless someone does that, these things go on indefinitely. You can also report it here:

Fraud Hotline

I would do both, and I have. It may be more difficult if the person is on Social Security retirement and not SSD or SSI, but they should still be made aware that a person is blatantly abusing the system. A carton a day? I don't think this person will live much longer anyway by breathing pure oxygen and THEN smoking a cigarette!

 

[sangha]

I have an ex-boyfriend who's 40 year old roomate currently collects disability on the government because she cannot "breathe properly". She is on oxygen however she smokes close to a carton of cigarrettes a day as well as uses the money to buy drugs. Because she is on oxygen the government also pays her electric bill - which is always unusually high due to the fact that they have purchased expensive lighting because they use these lights to grow marijuana plants. Is this an abuse of our programs? How typical are these situations and what can be done?

Report him anonymously to the local social services office and request that they send a person out to follow up on his "claim." Unless someone does that, these things go on indefinitely. You can also report it here:

Fraud Hotline

I would do both, and I have. It may be more difficult if the person is on Social Security retirement and not SSD or SSI, but they should still be made aware that a person is blatantly abusing the system. A carton a day? I don't think this person will live much longer anyway by breathing pure oxygen and THEN smoking a cigarette!

You assume the story isn't made up. Filing flase reports might be a crime, and are definitely a civil tort.

 

[MaggieMae]

I have an ex-boyfriend who's 40 year old roomate currently collects disability on the government because she cannot "breathe properly". She is on oxygen however she smokes close to a carton of cigarrettes a day as well as uses the money to buy drugs. Because she is on oxygen the government also pays her electric bill - which is always unusually high due to the fact that they have purchased expensive lighting because they use these lights to grow marijuana plants. Is this an abuse of our programs? How typical are these situations and what can be done?

Disability does not come with requirements to give up one's unhealthy lifestyle and try to improve one's life expectancy after becoming disabled. And think very, very hard about whether you want that changed or not. This woman really IS disabled. The fact her own unhealthy choices along the way caused or contributed to her disability is irrelevant. The fact her poor health hasn't given her a wake up call to start making better choices in order to prolong her life is irrelevant. It is still HER life and very possibly she doesn't want it prolonged if it means living longer but without cigarettes. It isn't YOUR life and it isn't government's. This is about someone personal judgment about what gives them pleasure in their life -NOT an example of FRAUD or of ABUSE of the program! If she is a smoker and on oxygen it means she has COPD -chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and probably emphysema as well. It is a disease where the least bit of exertion can leave the individual gasping for air and it often results in people being hospitalized in crisis where even being on oxygen will not provide enough oxygen. If she requires oxygen I guarantee you there is no way she is smoking nearly 10 PACKS of cigarettes a day! Healthy lungs would have a difficult time with that, but damaged ones could not at all. Her cigarettes may be lit, but she could not survive outside of a hospital setting while sucking on 10 packs of cigarettes a day with such badly damaged lungs she requires oxygen just to exist! Plus I think its more than $40 a carton now and maybe more. The average disability payment is $700 though. She'd be out of money before the month was half over -and it would only last that long for cigarettes if she NEVER EATS, NEVER pays a single bill, NEVER bought any clothes and pays NO RENT or mortgage! Get real. But you have a hawk eye as the officially appointed watch dog of this woman counting her every cigarette, right?

If you deny her disability it will not change the fact this woman is permanently disabled and can NEVER work again. Do you understand that? Even if she stopped smoking she will NEVER be able to work again because her lung disease is PERMANENT. Cutting off her disability because she didn't quit smoking like YOU think she should have - changes nothing except to inflict even more misery on her already miserable life. Even if you resent the fact she isn't trying to maintain her health even after her activities have left her disabled she still cannot support herself ever again regardless of whether she smokes or not. Her life, her mobility and her ability to enjoy many of the outlets and joys of life you and I enjoy and even take for granted as we do - are forever shut to her now whether she smokes or not. Even though she did it to herself, NOTHING she does now will undo this reality for her. So what you really resent is the fact she still engages in the very activity that led to her disability. But she does because it is one of the very few things left to this woman that she is still able to do and enjoys. Even knowing it led to her disability doesn't make her stop enjoying it and knowing that if she quit she will still be permanently disabled may have played a role in why she chooses to continue. Even if YOUR holier-than-thou reaction is HOW DARE SHE STILL SMOKE AFTER IT DISABLED HER! If she stops it won't UN-DISABLE her! Her options are to give up what few things she still enjoys in order to hang on a little (but not much) longer to an extremely restricted life where very few options for pleasure exist -or enjoy what pleasures are still available and enjoy what little pleasures still exist in her life even if it shortens her life! That's it -cure is not on the table and neither is a full, productive life! She is actually DYING -and now its just a matter of when, not if.

I don't give a crap if she smokes. I say whatever is left in life she still enjoys -GO FOR IT. Because life for her is never going to be what it is for you or me and I refuse to engage in the JUDGMENTAL bullshit that she should be forced to stop doing the few things left to her that she finds pleasurable or be threatened with having her disability yanked. ESPECIALLY when it won't make her un-disabled. And you will only have insured what is left of her life is even MORE miserable and unbearable for her. Sorry, but I just don't get off on that shit. If someone is so disabled they cannot work again -then who the hell is ANYONE to insist they MUST deny themselves even the few things left in their life they still find enjoyable -even if they are things YOU choose not to do or YOU think they shouldn't be doing!

If you are looking for a silver lining here as a taxpayer, then every time you see her light up just remind yourself that with every cigarette she is only insuring she won't be receiving disability for long because her disease combined with her smoking and drug use means her life expectancy is exceedingly short. It costs less for taxpayers if she dies faster continuing on as she is than it would if she made healthier choices at this point and prolonged her life for years more -because she is never going to be able to work again. The ONLY way off the hook for taxpayers at this point -is if she DIES. If she dies sooner, its cheaper on taxpayers but she may at least get more enjoyment out of what's left of her life than living a little bit longer but more miserable! So you are really complaining that this woman is doing things that will actually lighten YOUR taxpayer burden because she is shortening her own life expectancy!?! Get over it and yourself -and mind your own business.

Try to remember this woman hasn't much of a life at all and stop begrudging her the few things she can still do she finds enjoyable even if YOU don't approve of it and even though it actually caused her disability in the first place. At THIS point it won't change her disability or her ability to support herself. So if she wants to continue smoking even though it will continue to shorten her life expectancy just remind yourself that first and foremost -it is HER life. Try to avoid the liberal mentality that its your job to monitor how other people choose to live their lives and sit in judgment as if your personal opinion is supposed to replace their own -even though you aren't the one who has to actually experience and live it! And secondly by continuing to smoke she is actually shortening the time your tax dollars will continue going to her support. Or would you feel better about it if she was forced to stop smoking and then she found that just enough to tip the balance and decide life held so little pleasure anymore that she saw no reason to live and just put a bullet in her head? Just so you can indulge in your holier-than-thou crap that believes it is justified to make a miserable life even more miserable because YOUR feelings are what counts here -not hers? Like I said, just not my thing.

FYI -it is disability INSURANCE. The only difference is her policy was taken out with the government instead of a private company. She PAID into it. If she hadn't paid for it during her working life she couldn't get disability payments at all and would have to go on welfare. We don't make people on welfare stop drinking and stop doing drugs to get their welfare check but for THAT the recipient paid NOTHING. It is a true entitlement -that simply breathing entitles you to the money. Unlike disability where only those workers who paid into it (or were born permanently disabled) can collect disability. Want to change it that only people with lifestyles you personally approve of are allowed to receive disability even if they paid for it -while welfare recipients don't have to change a damn thing to get a handout? Who died and made you king?

Now you want to bitch about disability, think about this instead. The floodgates have been opened so that just about anything more serious than a head cold is "disabled". In THIS country today 1 out of 19 people is receiving disability payments. But unlike your neighbor on oxygen who really is disabled, let's not pretend that every 5th person in this country really is disabled and unable to work! No nation can exist for long with the increasing percentages of people who are TRULY abusing the system. Find the REAL fraud going on here because there are plenty of people receiving disability checks and scamming the system which will destroy it. And leave that poor dying woman alone.

I disagree about the continuation of his smoking habit. When you collect SSI or SSD, you must complete an annual report of your HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES, and if he is hiding a $60 per week (or more) smoking habit, they will cut the amount of his benefit if they conduct an actual audit of his expenses. Also, no federal or state welfare agency should be paying an electric bill for ANY reason other than when a person can prove that he simply has no money to keep the lights on. Obviously, if this person still has his faculties about him, the priority would be electricity--not smoking.