From a Washington Post editorial:
... Just three years ago, in July 2015, the Obama administration warned that the [Social Security Disability Insurance] program’s reserves were so low that it might not be able to cover expected benefits in 2016. Now, the trustees say the program will be solvent until 2032. Declining disability insurance receipts may be one reason that labor force participation by “prime-age” workers, those between the ages of 25 and 54, has ticked up from 80.6 percent in September 2015 to 81.8 in May 2018. ...
What does not explain the decline is any structural reform to the program. The fact that disability rolls decline when the economy improves, and vice versa, reflects no intended purpose of disability insurance, because there’s no intrinsic connection between macroeconomic conditions and the likelihood of becoming disabled. Instead, SSDI has functioned as de facto long-term unemployment insurance, fraught with inefficiencies and perverse incentives. In particular, SSDI’s rules require that applicants be unable to engage in any significant paid work, giving them every incentive to cease working completely to qualify and to avoid rehabilitation — that is, to exit the labor force for good. The rules need to change so applicants face something other than a binary choice between work and benefits, perhaps by allowing benefits to phase out gradually as earnings from employment rise. ...Sure, convert the earnings test from a cliff to a slope but the subtext of this editorial is that there really is no such thing as disability or, perhaps I should say, "disability." I mean, what more proof do you need than Stephen Hawking that anybody who wants to work can work? Those people on Social Security "disability" aren't really disabled. They're just lazy and a lot of them are drug addicts. Not only is Social Security disability not needed but it is an evil program that destroys lives by paying benefits for sloth. Needless to say, that's not my view but it is the view of those who believe that Social Security disability is the "soft underbelly" of Social Security. Take out Social Security disability and you're one step closer to the holy grail of the right wing, abolishing Social Security itself.
But you have to admit that some on or applying for SSDI are not disabled because the numbers always go up when the economy is bad and down when it is good and they work.
ReplyDeleteYou cant honestly tell me that every rep, atty and non-atty on this board has never got a person on SSDI that they knew could work. I wont believe it.
No not everyone with a disability is Stephen Hawking, by the same way that every atty isn't presenting cases at the Supreme Court. Those that really want to work will find a way to work, despite any condition they have.
Before the haters get to hating, read this part, read it carefully. I did NOT say that everyone with a disability can work. I said those that WANT to work will work. I did not say that the program should be ended. I did not say they were lazy, I did not say they should work, or any of that.
Has there ever been a perfect program in the history of the world. Why is hysteria created? The very top wants this privatized for their profit and they don't give a damn if everybody dies working for them or until they turn them out. Your argument is a weak one--sorry.
ReplyDeleteIn a bad economy, the marginal workers are the first to lose their jobs. A generous employer might make accommodations for a disabled worker when there's more money in the bank and more work to go 'round, but when the employer needs to tighten the belt, that's the first worker to go. Don't conflate "willingness" to work with "ability" to work.
ReplyDelete@11:02
ReplyDeleteYour last sentence is true, as is its inverse... Don't conflate an unwillingness to work with an inability to work. That happens a lot in the hearing room as well, and under the regulations, it's sometimes rewarded. 55, dropped out of high school, and never worked in your life? If you've got an impairment (and what 55+yo doesn't?), congrats, SSI is yours!
The biggest myth in that story is that the standard is being unable to engage in SGA. Do they keep stats on the percentage of cases triggered by the grid rules? My guess is that if it's not a majority, it's likely over 40% of the favorable cases. Simply because a CNA doesn't have transferable skills to a cashiering job or a records clerk doesn't mean they're incapable of doing that job at the age of 55. But the regulations promulgated back when we were still primarily a manufacturing/blue collar economy says they are.
I actually heard that mic drop.
ReplyDelete@9:11: Over many years before my retirement, I've had disability clients who had sufficient literacy/office skills/education such that I believed they could assist my paralegals in processing the massive amounts of paperwork/telephone calls this type of practice demands. It never worked! These claimants' conditions cause them to have many unscheduled absences. One cannot operate an office without confidence that employees will be present and able to do their job without excessive accommodations.
ReplyDelete"Those that really want to work will find a way to work, despite any condition they have."
Those who believe as you do apparently have never employed workers in real life. The attitude that "there's always something they can do" is completely ignorant. Are YOU going to hire them? Are YOU going to pay a wage that will allow them to be self-supporting? Are you going to go to incredible lengths to provide accommodations? Of course you're not!
Separate your thoughts from ideology and look to real world facts.
The ability to keep a full time non-sheltered job requires a set of abilities. They are what every employer expects and they will fire those who can’t meet those expectations. Punctuality, attendance, completing tasks by required times, remembering policies and instructions, are just a few examples. Just ask employers if you don’t believe 12:38. Many serious impairments and their symptoms erode a person’s ability to do those things in ways that are not immediately obvious to a casual observer.
ReplyDelete@12:38, 75% of our office has a disability, ranging from paraplegia to Bipolar. So before your start telling me to separate my ideology from real world facts, you need to remove your head from where you store it. The fact is that those that really want to work will find a way to work. I happen to see it every single work day.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the two above statements, the simple fact is filings go down when jobs and economy are good. So that means that these workers can and do work. It is a fact. Look at it. It is right there!