1) I'm not sure what makes you think I need to justify myself to you.
2) As I mentioned in my original reply, I said I would provide a couple sources, not that I only *have* a couple sources. I have no desire to jump through hoops or spend my time searching for links at your behest. Just because you dislike a source doesn't make the facts any less true.
3) Your citation is out of date and obsolete. There have been many amendments to the Social Security Act of 1935. Social Security currently provides benefits to the disabled, retirees and survivors. It is not intended to be a resource for malingerers who have exhausted all other avenues of receiving handouts.
4) I do not believe that benefits should be cut off for elderly, children and disabled. Children who are survivors or have a legitimate disability are entitled to collect under the current system. Otherwise, the parents have the options to support their children themselves or avail themselves of TANF and/or WIC.
I am 100% disabled. I have a debilitating, life threatening illness that recently necessitated a month long hospital stay followed by a short stay in a nursing home. I'm 44 years old.
The people who abuse a system ruin it for everyone. I will say it again; eventually, there will come a time where there is a crackdown on Social Security recipients who do not use the system as it is intended and innocent people with legitimate disabilities will be placed under intense scrutiny and caught up in the net.
Recently I read an article about people who are not disabled and are requesting wheelchairs at airports in order to avoid the inconvenience of the security lines. These people have abused and ruined the system for people with genuine disabilities.
I'm off to peruse the forums now, I've spent too much time on my Introductions thread. See you in the forums.
You are using anecdotal evidence instead of facts. The truth is disability benefits are often denied to people who really need it. Not handed out like candy.
I have a close friend who became disabled in his 30's when a ladder he was on (working as a commercial electrician) slid out and he fell 25 ft. He severely injured his spine. He was put through the wringer to get benefits.
A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde
Not anecdotal, please see the links in my initial reply to you. More claims are being processed without adequate review in order to speed up the application and claims process.
If I were presenting an anecdote, I would tell you that it took me years of denials and an attorney to obtain approval for my claim. The physician representing the SS administration at my hearing was befuddled as to how my claim had been previously denied. This was before the huge surge in applicants. Surely someone such as yourself wouldn't identify the HuffPuff as a right wing source?
Social Security Awarding Disability Benefits Without Adequately Reviewing Applications: Report
Let me get this straight. You had to hire a lawyer to finally get your benefits. My friend had to go through the wringer to finally get his benefits. Even after he received benefits, they sent out people to spy on him to make sure he wasn't taking out the trash or cutting the grass.
Yet, a Republican run witch hunt headed by Senator Tom Colburn says they are handing it out like candy?
Maybe a
CBO Report can clear up your misinformation.
Social Security Disability Enrollment Rising Due To Demographic Trends
A new report out Monday says the rise in America's ranks of disabled to 8.3 million in 2011 stems from an aging population, a surge in women workers, changes in the law in the 1980s and a terrible economy in which disabled people can't find jobs.
The study, by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, found that the biggest jumps in the disabled population came from aging Baby Boomers. From 1996 through 2009 -- "the approximate period during which the baby-boom generation entered their 50s -- the share of disabled worker benefits awarded to older workers (age 45 and older) rose from 67 percent to 76 percent," the report said.
Meanwhile, the share of benefits going to younger workers -- between the ages of 25 to 44 -- fell from 31 percent to 22 percent.
"Baby boomers' aging would have boosted enrollment in the DI program even if no other factors had changed," the report said.
Add to that the fact that more women have entered the workforce since 1970, boosting the working population and creating a larger pool of people who can become disabled.
A change in the law during the Reagan administration that allowed more people with mental disabilities and musculoskeletal problems to qualify also increased the number of people on disability. In 1990, such people accounted for 38 percent of workers in the SSDI program. In 2010, the number had risen to 54 percent.
To be eligible for disability, a person must prove he or she is unable to work due to a medical condition that will last at least a year. The average monthly benefit is $1,111.
Conservative Fox News firebrand Bill O'Reilly is among the many commentators suggesting the rise in disability enrollees is another sign of President Barack Obama's scheme to increase dependency.
"So why has the disability rate increased more than 100 percent? I'll tell you why. It's a con. It's easy to put in a bogus disability claim," O'Reilly said earlier this month. "Right now President Obama and the Democratic Party lead the league in entitlement spending and promoting a nanny state philosophy."
O'Reilly's assertion that it's easy to file for disability may come as a surprise to people who've tried. Ann Hatzakis of Denver said she last worked in 2007, when she left her waitressing job thanks to a "perfect storm" of migraine headaches and stress caused by mental illness. She tried to find office jobs, but she said nobody would call her back.
Hatzakis said she applied for disability benefits in 2009. Like 61 percent of all first-time claims, hers was denied. She said she has since developed Fibromyalgia -- which causes chronic pain throughout her body -- but the Social Security Administration suggested there were jobs she could do regardless. For instance, she was told she could handle the night shift at a bakery.
"But this was also at the middle of the economic downturn," Hatzakis, now 45, said in an interview. "Where are those jobs, and how do I get to them?"
In addition to demographic trends, the terrible economy has helped swell the rolls of America's disabled, from about 7.4 million in 2008 to 8.6 million in 2011, according to the Social Security Administration, which used a slightly different time frame than the CBO.
