Rightwing War on the Disabled

[whell]

Originally Posted by bobabode

The thing is these Repubs aren't looking to just catch cheaters, it's a grand scheme to further kill the safety net that we've all paid into our entire working lives.

This is a huge raft of BS. No one is interested in doing this. But if believing such nonsense is what helps you get out of bed in the morning, by all means continue.

[whell]

If the disability system is "under attack", it's more likely due to the dramatic rise in claims - legitimate and otherwise - that is still continuing. Claims appear to be rising at a rate which raises many questions about the legitimacy of the claims and the reliability of the administration of the claims process.

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

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by whell

This is a huge raft of BS. No one is interested in doing this. But if believing such nonsense is what helps you get out of bed in the morning, by all means continue.

And this is a huge raft of horseshit. Every congressional Republican is interested in doing anything they can dredge up to satisfy the demands of their Obama Derangement Syndrome.

Originally Posted by whell

If the disability system is "under attack", it's more likely due to the dramatic rise in claims - legitimate and otherwise - that is still continuing. Claims appear to be rising at a rate which raises many questions about the legitimacy of the claims and the reliability of the administration of the claims process.

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

If you had any personal experience with the SSD/SSI/Disability Determination process you'd realize how complicated it is...the documentation required by determination staff to cover their asses before they feel safe to approve a claim...how many medical/intellectual/mental-health variables there are...the nature of non-chronic but still disabling conditions that cause people to drift between functionality and disability...all the things that impact a system like this.

But you don't know shit from shinola about it. All you know is what you get from links you dig up on the web. Beyond that all you know is your blind right-wing partisan propaganda...your black and white thinking that makes it easy for you to have opinions about everything without having to think very hard about much of anything.

[merrylander]

Sure many of us have back pain but most of us here had sit down jobs. I imagine it could be a different story if we were on our feet all day. Interesting to note that it was Alabama selected in the NPR story, hardly a hotbed of Democrats. As Ike has pointed out the CYA mentality that exists among many workers would discourage easy awarding of SSI benefits.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by barbara

When my husband became disabled, we waited two years for his disability claim to be approved.

Years later, I worked on a project with the regional social security supervisor and she told me they deliberately make it a two year process to discourage scammers. I suspect that tactic hurts those who truly need it rather than discouraging many scammers.

I ran into this with dozens of clients when I was at the nonprofit service agency. These were usually claims for mental health/intellectual impairment disabilities...particularly difficult to get through the Disability Determination system. These people had virtually no ability to get themselves through the system without professional help.

And then...when an applicant gets the first denial...at the end of the letter is the following: "If you disagree with this determination, you have the right to file a request for reconsideration within 30 days." WTF does "request for reconsideration" mean? When I first saw it, I had to stop and think about what it means. What does it mean to somebody who has an IQ or 72? Jack shit is what it means. What does it mean to somebody who's so depressed they can't get out of bed? Pretty much jack shit as well. Why don't they say "You have 30 days to appeal this denial."??? Because everybody knows what "appeal" means. Most of the clients I had who had been denied, never appealed the denial because they didn't understand that they had the right to appeal. It's purposeful...it's bullshit.

But, maybe you have some help so you appeal, and the form they send you says, "Explain what has changed since your initial application that would make you eligible." So people just give up because nothing has probably changed. When the legitimate answer to this is idiotic question is...fuck you...nothing has changed. I should have received the determination based on the information I provided in my initial application that you motherfuckers routinely deny out of hand because it's what you're trained to do. But maybe you're not mentally ill or intellectually impaired, or you have an advocate and you go ahead and provide all the paperwork all over again, and maybe get your doctor or mental health worker to write another letter...and they deny it again...so you quit. But at the end of this second denial it says, "You have the right to request a meeting with a hearing officer to re-examine your application." WTF does that mean? It means you can sit down with an appeal judge and bring anybody with you for support or to provide information in support of your claim. So why don't they say that? Same tactical bullshit, that's why. And it's blatant discrimination directed at people who need the support they're applying for to survive at some reasonable level of existence.

What they don't tell you is that 95% of the cases that go to an appeal hearing are approved once the hearing officers (who are remarkably well trained and surprisingly fair, impartial and sympathetic) hear what the applicant has to say and are able to observe first hand the applicants level of functioning. A case manager and I attended a hearing for a client one time...and you could see exactly when the judge determined that this case should be approved. When our client suddenly blurted out, "Can we stop now? I'm really getting tired of answering all these questions." That was all the guy needed to hear to identify this persons level of ability to act in her own best interests.

Want to get your determination right away? Contact an attorney...a disability speci@list. As soon as you get the second denial. When they find out you have an attorney on the case, you're pretty much in. The attorney's will do it for 1/3 of the lump sum you get from SS to cover the back benefits from the date you first applied.

It's their process and their lingo...designed to discourage. I called a determination case worker one time to follow up on a client's appeal. She looked up the case number and said, "The case has been re-opened." I said OK, what do we do next? She replied, "I already told you the case has been re-opened." So I said, OK good but when do we find out if the client has won her determination appeal. She said, now openly annoyed, "The case has been re-opened...that means the request has been approved."

Well then just say so for christ's sake, just say, "The appeal has been granted." or "Your client has been approved for SSD." We don't know that when the application is first denied, the case is considered closed and is only re-opened to document an approval. Jesus Christ almighty, saying the case has been re-opened doesn't mean jack shit to anybody but you.

This is what people deal with. And asswipe Darrell Issa wants to use it to go after Barack Obama. Darrelll Issa can stroll out of his fancy office and go take a walk off the far end of the Oceanside pier.

Was this a rant? Fuckin'-a-right.

PS - my brother's MS was bad enough that he was so blind he couldn't drive anymore. He can barely read anything, can't really watch TV or go to a movie, and doesn't recognize me until he hears my voice. He couldn't walk without two canes...and he was denied twice. With reams of paperwork from three neurologists. He filed for a hearing and at the same time contacted an attorney who wrote a letter to Disability Determination. He was approved two weeks later without a hearing. Darrelll Issa can bite me.

[merrylander]

Maybe Issa should just go back to stealing cars.

[whell]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

And this is a huge raft of horseshit. Every congressional Republican is interested in doing anything they can dredge up to satisfy the demands of their Obama Derangement Syndrome.



If you had any personal experience with the SSD/SSI/Disability Determination process you'd realize how complicated it is...the documentation required by determination staff to cover their asses before they feel safe to approve a claim...how many medical/intellectual/mental-health variables there are...the nature of non-chronic but still disabling conditions that cause people to drift between functionality and disability...all the things that impact a system like this.

But you don't know shit from shinola about it. All you know is what you get from links you dig up on the web. Beyond that all you know is your blind right-wing partisan propaganda...your black and white thinking that makes it easy for you to have opinions about everything without having to think very hard about much of anything.

Insults all you got today, Ike? Oh, sorry. I forgot that's all you ever have. And, by the way, I think it takes a special kind of derangement to continue to shill for the current occupant of the WH. But you keep it right up, since it seems to fit you so well.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by whell

Insults all you got today, Ike? Oh, sorry. I forgot that's all you ever have. And, by the way, I think it takes a special kind of derangement to continue to shill for the current occupant of the WH. But you keep it right up, since it seems to fit you so well.

Whell...showing off his 5 below personality transplant.

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Whell...showing off his 5 below personality transplant.

Poor Whellie will be trotting out Steve Kroft next as proof that the system is being gamed by the 47%ers.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by whell

This is a huge raft of BS. No one is interested in doing this. But if believing such nonsense is what helps you get out of bed in the morning, by all means continue.

Every post you make is a great big fucking pile of hot steaming dogshit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.