Welfare to Disability. The Great State Scam?

[trof]

This was the subject on last Saturday's edition of "This American Life" on PBS.

Nitty Gritty: Welfare is basically funded by states. Disability payments are a federal program.
States are doing everything they can to get people off of the state welfare roles and on to the federal disability roles. Even paying private companies to the tune of $2300 per head for each recipient they can get changed over.

Read all about it here:
http://apps.npr.org/unfit-for-work/

[Poll_Blind]

1. Next stop on the Austerity Express: Turn the disabled into The Enemy. nt

PB

[LiberalLoner]

12. +1

[Mojorabbit]

29. I know right!

I read this earlier and was extremely ticked off. I saw it on an MS board on facebook.
First salvos coming out now that they are done demonizing the elderly on SS.

[blogslut]

2. ...

http://mediamatters.org/mobile/research/2013/03/22/this-american-life-features-error-riddled-story/193215

This American Life Features Error-Riddled Story On Disability And Children
NPR's All Things Considered Also Promoted Story
March 22, 2013 10:46 PM EDT ››› HANNAH GROCH-BEGLEY
MYTH: Rising Number Of Disability Claims Tied To Families Using Children To "Pull" Benefits

Planet Money: "What You Want Is A Kid Who Can 'Pull A Check.'" In a segment on the public radio program Planet Money -- which was also featured on Chicago Public Radio's This American Life and NPR's All Things Considered -- contributor Chana Joffe-Walt explained that the number of people receiving disability insurance had increased because a group of individuals in a small town told her that they look to children to "pull a check":

I started hearing about another group of people on disability: kids. People in Hale County told me that what you want is a kid who can "pull a check." Many people mentioned this, but I basically ignored it. It seemed like one of those things that maybe happened once or twice, got written up in the paper and became conversational fact among neighbors. I found that the number of kids on a program called Supplemental Security Income -- a program for children and adults who are both poor and disabled -- is almost seven times larger than it was 30 years ago. [NPR, Planet Money, 3/22/13]

FACT: Increased Child Poverty And The Recession Account For Rise In Benefits

Center On Budget And Policy Priorities: Number Of Children Receiving SSI Benefits Rising Due To Higher Rate Of Child Poverty And Prolonged Economic Downturn. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) found that the number of children receiving SSI benefits was not "mushrooming," due in part to the higher rate of child poverty and prolonged economic downturn:

Is the number of children receiving SSI benefits mushrooming?

In a word, no. In October 2012, SSI provided monthly cash benefits to 1.3 million disabled children under age 18 whose families have low incomes and few assets (these are basic eligibility criteria) -- or about 1.7 percent of all children in the United States. That rate has inched up very gradually for the last decade, probably due to advances in detection and diagnosis of certain disabling conditions and the rising rate of child poverty, and has temporarily increased in the wake of the prolonged economic downturn, which has increased the number of families with low incomes and hence the number of disabled children eligible for SSI. [CBPP, 12/14/12]...

[dkf]

4. They cite number of people, not amounts.

How does income affect eligibility for disability? Isn't it based on medical conditions, not on income?

[Lady Freedom Returns]

6. No, not really.

If you can make anything by doing anything, and they will look at your home and car as income BTW, it will make you ineligibility.

[dkf]

7. So why would the recession affect eligibility for disability?

I don't understand blogslut's piece.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

10. The recession has made prices to rise as well as the poverty line.

However, the government is using old numbers and making it where people have to loose even their homes just to get help.

[dkf]

11. Is SS disability needs based?

[HiPointDem]

14. they're not talking about social security disability.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

17. It is supposed to be.

But thanks to the changing prices and the old list of numbers the government still uses, a majority are slipping through the cracks. Till the government works on changing their part many disabled will be in deeper and deeper trouble.

While waiting for disability people will have to sale everything of any value to pay bills and get down to where the government says they need help. Many families with children are put under harsh stress because of paying medical bills and making enough to feed and cloths themselves. Even a person's home becomes an issue do to your home being counted as income, that is why many try and sell their homes so they can move into a rental in hopes that they can get the help they need and get the creditors off their backs.

In other words while they are in need, many that recently become disabled will not get it till they are so bad off that the help really won't help.

[Mnemosyne]

21. SSI does not count your home, and usually not your car, as income. nt

[Lady Freedom Returns]

22. Then why did they do that to my sister?

Her house and car was. They said she had to sell them before they could help her. The house was said to be worth less than $30,000 according to them and the car at the time (1990's) was 7 years old and they said she could only keep it if it was 10 years or more.

[Mnemosyne]

23. I really do not know, maybe other assets were too much. It is right on their website. I received

SSI with a five year old car and a $28,500 house. They never once suggested I needed to sell my house to receive it. Sorry someone gave your sister a hard time, makes no sense.

[Horse with no Name]

24. Social Security Disability is based on what you have paid in and earned

SSI is means-tested and is more of a "welfare" type program for those that are disabled before paying enough money into the system.

[dkf]

25. Yes I was confusing the two. I'm more familiar with SSDI.

But I haven't delved into either of the programs very much.

[aroach]

27. My 10 year old son's is

My ten year old son gets $31 a month in SSI. The only reason I bothered is so he could get Medicaid. I have to send in my husband's check stubs every month and we are not allowed to have more than $3000 in assets. This includes our transportation which keeps us in junk cars that are always breaking down.

I returned to school to finish up my degree and am in my senior year. I had to turn down an accounting internship because if I earn $300 my son loses the SSI and then because of that loses the Medicaid. Most of his therapies are not covered by insurance and even the ones that are cost us $2500 deductible and 30% of the bill after that.

When I graduate I will have to end all my son's therapies in order to be able to get a job.

They don't let you make much money. Right now my car is broken down, our furnace is out of service and it's very cold, and my washing machine is broken. Life sucks.

[dkf]

3. Wow they are thinking of using and draining the SS retirement fund for disability.

People at the Social Security Administration, which runs the federal disability programs, say we cannot afford this. The reserves in the disability insurance program are on track to run out in 2016, Steve Goss, the chief actuary at Social Security, told me.

Goss is confident that Congress will act to keep disability payments flowing, probably by taking money from the Social Security retirement fund. Of course, the retirement fund itself is on track to run out of money by 2035.

Goss and his colleagues have worked out a temporary fix under which the retirement and disability funds will both run out of money by 2033. He says he hopes the country will have come up with a better plan by then.

http://apps.npr.org/unfit-for-work/

[HiPointDem]

15. bull. as usual. the op isn't about social security disability, and the feds aren't going to 'drain'

social security to pay for social security disability.

[dkf]

16. Hello did you read the article?

What federal disability program do you think they are talking about?

[HiPointDem]

28. SSI, supplemental security income, which is a welfare program financed from income taxes, not

from social security taxes.

trust you to confuse the issue.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

5. Problem with that.

Disability pay is different in many parts of the country due to the cost of living in that area and does not cover food cost. So EBT/Food Stamps are still needed.

[wishlist]

8. Suppl Security Income is welfare, income based eligibility

SSI (Supplemental Security Income) was established 40 years ago as a federal program because many states were managing their aid to the disabled and elderly so badly using different eligibility rules in each state. The program is for children and adults who are disabled but with low enough income to qualify, so many recipients get just partial benefits if they or their parents have other income. Many elderly get both Social Security and a partial SSI check.

SSI does not come out of the Social Security trust funds at all, it comes out of general federal revenues.

Local agencies are supposed to be referring anyone who may be disabled with low enough income to qualify for the federal SSI benefits so I see nothing wrong with them trying to make sure any families on state welfare get the federal benefits they may be eligible for as SSI is probably more generous than the state program anyway.

[dkf]

18. Social security disability insurance and supplemental security income are two different programs.

SSDI is funded through the social security payroll tax and credited to the DI fund. Supplemental Security income is funded with general revenues.

SSDI funded 9.7 million disabled workers as of 2010 while 7.7 million individuals received SSI payments.

The average SSDI benefit was $1,061.31. The 2010 maximum SSI benefit is $674 per individual $1,011 per couple with the average 2009 SSI payment of $476.

From the aging.senate.gov website.

[Arcanetrance]

9. The 1% great plan moves on

Divide the 99 the poor the middle class than further divide that by the workers and disable and keep us fighting and unable to unite while they screw us

[LiberalLoner]

13. Yup, culling the herd. They want fewer of us alive.

[Horse with no Name]

19. A very good point

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2555476

I don't think it is mystifying at all
First, we are getting older, and disability rates do rise as you get older.

Second, a poor economy has meant that many older persons with disabilities have lost jobs in which they could compensate for their disability. Try being an older person with a significant disability and hobbling in to apply for a job. Everyone hires the younger, cheaper (on medical costs alone), cuter looking person.

When you have high unemployment for this long, the "less-favored" employees are the ones left out in the cold.

Then you have the snowball effect. Once you are out of work for very long and you are an older person with a medical condition, you probably won't be able to afford your COBRA, or it expires after 18 months. So now what? Until you qualify for Medicaid, you are an older person with significant medical needs that probably will not be addressed, and under financial and psychological stress. So your physical condition gets worse.

Everything from arthritis to MS to diabetes gets worse under these conditions. In colder realms, many people not on gas are no longer able to heat their homes. This has negative health effects for these people.

It is idiotic not to expect disability rates (as SS defines disability) to rise under these social conditions. The reality is that if we were all judges, if we looked at some 61 year-old with obvious physical problems in the courtroom, and read what their doctors had to say, we'd know in our heart of hearts that said 61 year-old couldn't get hired at Walmart or Lowe's or the local supermarket. There's no jobs out there for these people. None. There is no job at which they will get hired because of their physical problems, and that's the legal definition of disability.

Yes, there are people on disability who shouldn't be, but the rapid rise in disability claimants is not substantially due to that factor. There are a LOT of people on SSI who shouldn't be, but that's an older problem stemming from welfare reform. The states got into making that case to relieve their own burdens.

[Generation_Why]

20. There are many disability lawyers gaming the system, too.

One in my area is facing federal indictments right now for paying off the judge to rubber stamp hundreds of his clients.

There's no need to be defensive of those doing damage to these programs.

[patrice]

26. We have a constant stream of those ads on tv here, from at least 2 companies.

Of course, I have known many people with authentic disabilities. I have also known several who actually were pretty obvious about wanting to avoid having to work.

I don't want anyone left in the streets to suffer and die, because they are un-able to take care of themselves. I also don't want the system to be stolen from those who DO need it.

I find it QUITE interesting that immediately after SUBSIDY-Sam Brownback, here in BrownKochistan, and American for Prosperity's employees in our legislature delivered the first rounds of cuts to everything this year, cuts to those receiving SSI (SSDI???), which were in the initial package, were immediately, and I do mean within the FIRST week, set aside, which, in this state means, there was STRONG REPUBLICAN RESISTANCE to anything affecting SSI/SSDI recipients.