Trends With Benefits - This American Life

[quade 4]

Stunning look at how the disability system has grown as a result of things you probably haven't thought of and the many people who are to blame.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/490/trends-with-benefits

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[NewGuy2005 53]

I just listened to this. Pretty incredible.

[kallend 2,150]

Quote

I just listened to this. Pretty incredible.

TAL is (generally) a great program. Produced in Chicago!

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Andy9o8 2]

Here's the print version of her report:

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

[jimmytavino 16]

Can a person qualify for SS Disability....IF they have never contributed INTO the program???


Since Soc. Security Does keep track of a person "contributions" over the years,, is it possible OR sensible to LIMIT benefits to the amount paid by beneficiaries over the course of their working years??? ( adjusted upwards a BIT to include SOME amount of "interest" )


and lastly ...THOUGH I HATE to suggest it...
Should Soc Sec benefits be reduced or ended... IF a recipients Savings, IRAs and all other assests exceed,,,,, say a million dollars?? or even a half a million dollars???? AND if they have reached a point where amount received have exceeded amounts that they paid in...???

just wondering...

[Andy9o8 2]

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Can a person qualify for SS Disability....IF they have never contributed INTO the program???

Generally not, with some exceptions. http://www.ssa.gov/dibplan/dqualify.htm

[kallend 2,150]

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Here's the print version of her report:

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

Gave me a back-ache just reading it.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Southern_Man 0]

Quote

Can a person qualify for SS Disability....IF they have never contributed INTO the program???


Since Soc. Security Does keep track of a person "contributions" over the years,, is it possible OR sensible to LIMIT benefits to the amount paid by beneficiaries over the course of their working years??? ( adjusted upwards a BIT to include SOME amount of "interest" )


and lastly ...THOUGH I HATE to suggest it...
Should Soc Sec benefits be reduced or ended... IF a recipients Savings, IRAs and all other assests exceed,,,,, say a million dollars?? or even a half a million dollars???? AND if they have reached a point where amount received have exceeded amounts that they paid in...???

just wondering...

Generally people who have not paid into the system at least a minimum number of counted quarters are not eligible for SSDI but may receive SSI benefits. There are exceptions to this, such as a Disabled Adult Child, who draws off of their parent's record.

The Social Security system already scales benefits based on the totals paid in. It does not include any lifetime limit based on contributions though. Of course the government could do that if they chose. I am not sure that makes any sense to do that on what is, in the case of SSDI, an insurance benefit. My life insurance or health insurance benefits are not limited to what I have paid in premiums.

Social Security, including disability, has never had a resource limit. It has been an income program only and has never been means tested. I don't think it should be, but others are welcome to opposite opinions.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[wmw999 2,589]

Key point

Quote

There are now millions of Americans who do not have the skills or education to make it in this country.

So disability is their only other option.

Another thing that occurs to me is that sickly and disabled people didn't used to live as long as they do now; now they live a lot longer, drawing the check. And it's hard to argue too much with some of their stated disabilities.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[kallend 2,150]

More on NPR tonight about how scumsucking lawyers push disability as something people "deserve", and use the ambiguity in the definition in the 1984 ACT to win appeals for people who are by no stretch of the imagination really disabled.

One law firm made over $50M last year in fees for disability cases.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[kallend 2,150]

Latest from NPR today:

Companies that STATES hire to get people off welfare and onto disability, so the states don't have to foot the bill.

THIS outfit gets $2,300 per person from the state of Missouri for every welfare recipient it gets onto disability.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[NWFlyer 2]

Quote

Key point

Quote

There are now millions of Americans who do not have the skills or education to make it in this country.

So disability is their only other option.

Another thing that occurs to me is that sickly and disabled people didn't used to live as long as they do now; now they live a lot longer, drawing the check. And it's hard to argue too much with some of their stated disabilities.

Wendy P.

I've been listening to the program on my walks to/from work the last couple days, and I think what stunned me the most is how this is really hidden from the macroeconomic numbers; in other words, our economy is worse than it looks because these folks don't show up on welfare rolls and they don't show up in unemployment numbers. And yet in a way they really are "disabled" in that there are no jobs that they are qualified for that they could physically do (all the jobs they could qualify for involve standing or lifting or other capabilities that they don't have, even though perhaps they could function in a sit-down job).

The anecdote that stood out to me was the interview of the woman who really couldn't conceive of sit-down jobs, but then the reporter noted that her local community really didn't have many of those, and it's entirely possible that she hadn't observed those jobs.

It definitely made me think; on the one hand, I don't like the apparent abuse of the original intent of the program; on the other hand, folks really are "disabled" in the sense that the current economy can't provide jobs they are physically capable of doing.

It got me out of my bubble thinking, that's for sure - I know that for myself, I am in a job that could be done with little or no modification by someone with a wide range of disabilities; the only disability scenario I've contemplated that would have me no longer working is one of an extreme and profound nature (traumatic brain injury or something else that would cause me to be mentally unable to do my job, or a fairly major physical disability). Being a skydiver, I know I'm putting myself at higher risk for that kind of thing, which is why I spend money every month on long-term disability insurance in the event the worst happens and I'm unable to work to support myself. Otherwise, I'd see myself continuing to work through a range of less profound disabilities, should they occur.

But I also have a combination of experience and education that makes me highly employable in a wide variety of roles; this story really got me thinking about the meaning of disability when your employability isn't that great to start with.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[quade 4]

And I think a lot of the world is actually like that.

It's not so much a "conspiracy" to deceive, but instead it's just everybody looking out for what's good for them and in some cases, the best they can do is a bit of a drain on society as a whole.

This includes virtually everyone involved in the story; the people on disability, the people who are getting paid to put people on disability, the states who are paying those people so they can get them off their welfare roles and shift that const to the federal government.

Everybody is doing the one thing Ayn Rand and her general philosophy is telling them to do; look out for themselves first, even at the expense of others.

Again, it's not a conspiracy, it's really just nuts.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver