1/3 of budget passed is about SSDI disability reform.

I don't know what it is about Republicans and why they're so insistent on going after social programs for the poor and injured. I'm sick and tired of the word entitlements as if we people on such programs think we're some self righteous group taking food out of the mouths of working people. For those that think so there might just come a day when you need such programs just like we that use them.

We waste billions giving aid to foreign governments and spend trillions on war. When it comes to average Americans if you become disabled your're a useless sponge on the system or in other words entitled.

Heres a few writes up about the recent budget arguments.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

www.washingtonpost.com...

a reply to: wantsome

Social programs are to Republicans what holy water is to demons.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

No doubt I'm surprised they haven't started putting people in concentration or labor camps yet. The way they talk it sounds like it's not far off.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: wantsome

Social programs are to Republicans what holy water is to demons.

And the reason they are consistent losers is because they piss off the AARP crowd by going after Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. Great strategy GOP....

a reply to: olaru12

The Republican motto is "Rhetoric first, facts and research second".

a reply to: wantsome

"Waste of oxygen" is pretty much how they see us. They give no cost of living increases, in spite of the cost of living going through the roof and don't look for any significant improvement any time soon.

www.investmentnews.com...

For clients who have been retired for several years, it will be like déjà vu all over again. Similar no COLA years occurred in 2010 and 2011 — the only two times since automatic COLAs were instituted in 1975 that Social Security recipients received no bump-up in benefits. Those two years of no COLAs was followed by a 3.6% hike for 2012, and more modest increases of 1.7% in 2013, 1.5% in 2014 and 1.7% in 2015.

As a coal miner, I didn't plan to have several tons of rock fall on me. I didn't ask to be stuck in a hospital for 2 years, I didn't ask for my vertebrae to be fused and I sure as Hell didn't want 18 different surgeries to put the rest of me back together.
I do however, expect to be repaid the money I paid in to SS for all those years and from what I've been getting, They are the ones making a profit.

a reply to: wantsome

Because they need to pay for weapons of war and the elderly and disabled and poor do not have a lobby. AARP has just become another insurance company.

www.cnn.com...

a reply to: wantsome

Yep funny in a sick way you never hear about foreign aid or welfare going bust.. Seems to always be enough to go around....

Of all the money I paid in over my lifetime if they would return the amount at even 5% interest I would be set for the rest of my life.. Yes I know I paid for someone Else's SS.. That is supposed to make me feel better... it does but not completely.

Could also be because most of the people on disability that I have contact with just don't want to work and have found the trick to get it. When my wife retired they begged her to take disability and basically told her they could get it for her. It's the new long term unemployment

a reply to: wantsome

This may just come to pass.

They'll just call them something different and it will take the masses about a decade or so to figure out what is actually happening.

The amount social welfare programs actually cost compared to what is taken in the form of "entitlements" in the other direction, as in going to those who already have more than they need is just unbelievable.

I hear people whine about the poor in section 8 housing costing so much by those who have enough already that they really shouldn't have an issue with it, and then in nearly the same breath whining about the homeless on the streets.

I suppose it has something to do with not appreciating what one has compared to what one might have if others didn't cost so much. Those who supposedly cannot support themselves cost way less than is wasted on entitlements that go to the rich.

And the rich really do waste it anyway.

The last prick I listened to ranting about this crap was driving a $92,000 truck that he had to hide from the repo men.

Now he's going to file bankruptcy, who do you think is going to cover that?.

a reply to: wantsome

I don't know what it is about Republicans and why they're so insistent on going after social programs for the poor and injured.

Let me answer that for you with a photo:

a reply to: mikell

In my state getting disability is nearly impossible. I have schizophrenia and a mountain of medical documentation. I've been a patient of my current doctor for 16 years. He's a MD and offers outpatient services through the hospital he works at. My doctors is well known in the medical community in my area. When I applied for disability I had to see one of social securities doctors. She knew my doctor and in her report she approved that I was disabled. The claims examiner over ruled her and said I wasn't. The claims examiner said I was intelligent and trying to pull one over on the system. When I went to court the disability judge called my doctor a liar and said his review was just being sympathetic to my cause.

I have documentation all the way back to the 2nd grade showing I have severe psychological issues. I was involuntarily hospitalized twice for hallucinations and delusions when I was 19. I've been under treatment for 20 years.

I was approved for ssi disability when I was 20. I went to work instead of staying on it. I spent 10 years in the workforce before conceding to my illness and applying for disability. It took me 6 years to get disability.

I take some seriously mind numbing antipsychotic drugs. One morning I was running late on my way to work. I was having a hard time getting up in the mornings because of the medications. Half drugged and totally out of it one morning I ran a red light and almost killed 3 school kids. I had been accused by a couple of employers of being on narcotics because I was out of it when I came in. Because of the stress I was under I started having hallucinations and I could no longer work. Yet according to the judge my doctor and I were lying. I was denied disability 4 times.

a reply to: DAVID64

This is the problem with "social security" as it was designed--that type of program is doomed to fail from the start because (a) it is run by an inept agency, and (b) as lifespans have lengthened, the time that one can start receiving their SS benefits hasn't kept pace.

The system was initially designed to be a fiscal lifeline for people during they're last years of life, not to fund a multi-decadal retirement. This has been lost on people, and the management of the program has rendered that initial design impotent, yet people still expect every penny of "their money," when in reality, we should be allowed to keep our money, not forced to give it to the federal government for "safekeeping" until our latter years.

You are an extreme case, and the type of case that SS disability is good for. But that doesn't change the fact that the management of the system is broken, and there is good reason for people in government to want to withhold giving that system more money until they system can actually be fixed.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

Social security is a ponzi scheme. Fund managers would be in jail if they ran any kind of investment fund the way social security is managed by our government.

The problem now is that SSD has become the new scam. The disability roles exploded during the recession as a way to lengthen unemployment.

As a fiscal conservative, I don't have a problem with safety nets. However, the progressives need to understand that the math simply does not work. People are living longer, there are fewer contributing works, and it has completely blown any actuarial tables out of the water from what was originally intended for the program.

If the government was serious, they would look for ways for people to take care of themselves first. For example, why not offer massive tax credits for funding your own retirement? Get rid of the max contributions to 401ks. Allow simple investment accounts so the money can actually give a higher return. Vast majority of social security receipients would be getting much more in retirement if they kept the money themselves, not to mention having assets they can pass on to their heirs.

And yes, I have a problem with all the corporate welfare / unnecessary defense spending, so please don't bring up that red herring.

This is the first line in the Huffington post article.

"WASHINGTON -- Advocates for senior citizens said they're neither happy nor unhappy with a congressional budget deal that makes changes to Social Security and Medicare."

They don't appear to be upset about the deal that kicks the can down the road for another year.

This has not even been voted on yet, but should pass. Also, this is NOT "the budget" as in the OMNIBUS yearly budget for which we are under a continuing resolution until December 11, as this one deals with issues to be funded through 2017 and raising the debt limit ceiling. The OMNIBUS budget they like to fight over yearly, can only be passed for the fiscal year, so outside of the ongoing CT's of the past, it could only be in effect until September 30, 2016.

originally posted by: wantsome
a reply to: mikell

In my state getting disability is nearly impossible. I have schizophrenia and a mountain of medical documentation. I've been a patient of my current doctor for 16 years. He's a MD and offers outpatient services through the hospital he works at. My doctors is well known in the medical community in my area. When I applied for disability I had to see one of social securities doctors. She knew my doctor and in her report she approved that I was disabled. The claims examiner over ruled her and said I wasn't. The claims examiner said I was intelligent and trying to pull one over on the system. When I went to court the disability judge called my doctor a liar and said his review was just being sympathetic to my cause.

I have documentation all the way back to the 2nd grade showing I have severe psychological issues. I was involuntarily hospitalized twice for hallucinations and delusions when I was 19. I've been under treatment for 20 years.

I was approved for ssi disability when I was 20. I went to work instead of staying on it. I spent 10 years in the workforce before conceding to my illness and applying for disability. It took me 6 years to get disability.

I take some seriously mind numbing antipsychotic drugs. One morning I was running late on my way to work. I was having a hard time getting up in the mornings because of the medications. Half drugged and totally out of it one morning I ran a red light and almost killed 3 school kids. I had been accused by a couple of employers of being on narcotics because I was out of it when I came in. Because of the stress I was under I started having hallucinations and I could no longer work. Yet according to the judge my doctor and I were lying. I was denied disability 4 times.

This is usually how hard it is, only in some cases is it fast tracked.

I thought COLA for SSD was/is inacted by Statute, decided by the CPI & CPI-W ?

They wouldn't get a COLA unless the economic indexes used to decide such, say it's necessary. So how does this translate into being the fault of one party or another ?

It isn't a good time to be a retiree. Democrats are coming for your retirement so they can redistribute it and Republicans are coming for your Social Security just because. Sadly, these people paid into both of these retirement vehicles their whole lives and deserve to live out their golden years unmolested by these scum-bag politicians.

I truly despise congress.

The system is pretty screwed. I applied for such and was denied. They make blanket decisions of different conditions. Every time I give a urine sample it comes with rocks in it yet I am not eligible. I really wonder exactly what the reform is exactly.