Welfare programs in the US

Factual Questions
62

HELL-low there Doc, I’m in a similar situation. I receive disability for depression also.

I get $909 from SSDI and $6.72 from SSI, for a grand total of $915.72 a month. No SNAP(food stamps) because I get SSI.
My psych meds are free, as the city pays the small copay, any other meds I would pay the copay, usually $1 to $3.

No TV, so no cable.
No smart phone. I have a free refurbished, basic cell phone. Voice & text only, which is fine by me.
I was using my friends WiFi account, with his permission, but it sucked. When AT&T offer a discount program, I signed up for that. It’s $10 a month for 6Mbps.
I have a free bus pass from the city.
I live in a hotel (SRO) that is supportive housing for people with mental health issues. I have a small room w/bathroom. The place is OK, but the neighborhood sucks. It could be worse, I could be living in Texas. :wink:

I receive $11 less in disability a month than 8 years ago when I moved in to the Midori, and as of July 1st, my rent will be $141 more than it was in 2009. I will be disconnecting my internet, because it’s not worth it as my computer is too old and there is less I can do online.

I don’t drink, or smoke, or do drugs and I have no use for all the hot singles in my area who want to have sex with me.:smiley:

I have never known anyone personally “Living Large” on government assistance.
A few have fudge the rules a bit, but no outright fraud.

It’s a frustrating existence, that wears on you and is depressing in it self.

I’m going to stop rambling now, look for my GoFundMe page “Get Foggy a Cat”:):wink:

63

It should be noted (if it hasn’t been already), is that a person will likely not qualify for all available assistance and some programs may not be open.

For example: from the SFHA website

If I had known that I would still be on disability in 2017, I would have tried to sign up back in 1996.

64

It is.

How about people who park in the striped area next to the handicapped space, closer to the building? :eek: :mad: I’ve seen that more than once, and called the police every time. I haven’t been there when they showed up.

65

I have to say that I’m quite shocked to see such a big disparity in SSDI benefits. I receive $1750 per month, I net $1650 as $100 is deducted for Medicare. On top of my benefit my two children each receive $400 per month until they are 18. So my gross monthly benefit is $2550. My attorney had told me that my benefit amount was the highest he’s ever seen among his clients. I really thought that benefit differences might be a few hundred at most.
(With my children’s benefit, I’m divorced from their mother, so the payments are sent to her on my behalf)
I will refrain from complaining how difficult it is to live on what I get. I wish you both the best and hopefully there will be an increase in benefit for you both.

66

As one of these so-called “busybodies” myself, I have to say I never question someone who has a placard or plate, regardless of how suspicious it might look to me. The only time I open my mouth is when the abuse is blatant, with the car being parked in a handicapped spot with no placard/plate at all. And even in those circumstances I approach it as though the mistake was accidental.

67

[quote=“Ambivalid, post:66, topic:787238”]

As one of these so-called “busybodies” myself, I have to say I never question someone who has a placard or plate, regardless of how suspicious it might look to me. The only time I open my mouth is when the abuse is blatant, with the car being parked in a handicapped spot with no placard/plate at all. And even in those circumstances I approach it as though the mistake was accidental.[/QUOT

That’s nice to hear you say that. I’m disabled because of a serious back injury sustained at work. I’ve got a bunch of titanium rods and screws holding me together. However I do not look disabled, I’m 6’ 220lbs and I no longer use a cane. I’ve had idiots question my disability, of course they didn’t realize that I was walking around Walmart with a heavy dose of morphine keeping the pain at bay.

Disability isn’t always easy to spot. To be truthful, I’d go back to work tomorrow if I could. I miss it very much and I miss the money. This injury has taken so much from myself and my family. It has cost me dearly and it is very insulting to have someone question the legitimacy of your disability.

68

The reason an individual is receiving SSI/SSDI benefits may or may not be obvious, but that does not mean the reason is not legitimate.

Technology has rendered millions of jobs redundant.
Even the average supermarket operates with half or less of the employees I remember when I was working in supermarkets in the eighties.

There is rampant age discrimination besides. Who the hell wants a 55-year-old man with arthritis when companies are all looking for 25-year-old prodigies who will work for jack squat and be grateful for it?

Once you get into your middle forties, the number of conditions that could render a disability claim starts to climb. I know guys who are flat-out can’t get hired even though they appear to be otherwise healthy. This is where a diagnosis of depression or sciatica goes from being a nuisance to being a disability.

The fact is that employers in both the private and public sectors rubber stamp huge sectors of the population as unemployable. On top of that, we don’t think people have a RIGHT to a job with a living wage, let alone insurance. Thus, many people with manageable disabilities DO NOT want to risk their SSI or SSDI heath benefits.

Perhaps if we made the government the employer of last resort, we could make more jobs for more people. Yeah, I know, more taxes, but wouldn’t we have to implement something like guaranteed employment if we didn’t have a social safety net?
:confused:

69

I think that you might be a bit optimistic concerning how easy it is to get approved for SSDI. I could be wrong, but your average everyday case of sciatica isn’t going to get you approved. I underwent 3 make surgeries, am fused from L3 to S1, my hardware was lose and required a survey to tighten it up. I allies for Social Security and I was initially turned down. I the hired an attorney and I had to wait 5 years before my case was called to plead my case in front of a judge.

To qualify for disability you must show that you are unable to do the job or similar jobs in a related field that you are trained in. In my case I was a linesman for BellSouth with ten years experience. My injury left me unable to continue working in the field I was trained in.

When I went before a judge to determine if I was to receive disability the judge had a folder of my medical records that must have been 6 inches thick. And the judge seem to be very familiar with the file. He asked me a few questions, such as how have I been able to live financially since the injury. He then mentioned my life hardware and said, “You are clearly disabled. Social Security benefits have been granted”.

The point being is that I can’t rant see SS approving someone for disability on pain from sciatica alone. Getting SSDI was a very long and drawn out prices. If it wasn’t for my family I would have probably become homeless waiting to be approved.

Okay, it’s 3:30am. Maybe I ranting, I’m too tired to tell.

70

YMMV. So much so that your personal anecdote is irrelevant, although this is GQ so that is to be expected. Typical SSDI caseload is about 200 per year, with approval rates ranging from 20-100%. I don’t know how typical your file size was, but keep in mind there are only 260 or so working days a year, and there are plenty of judges hearing more than that, which limits thoroughness. You may have done things right, but then there are the rubber-stamping physicians and judge-bribing attorneys. One judge can manage half a billion in fraud. I hope he’s the only one.

Could or should things be different and better? Probably, but we’d need aGD thread.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704681904576319163605918524

71

This is true. To my point above, people who are part of the social program lifestyle know the system and how to work it.

I know many people who apply for affordable housing slots years before they’re even eligible, since they know that their slot won’t come up for years and they’d rather wait now while they’re ineligible anyway than wait later when they’d be losing actual $$. Doesn’t always work perfectly, but it’s pretty commonly done, in certain circles.