Discussion for article #233185
conservatives dont care a damm about either seniors or the disabled they have the evil incarnate that is S.S if they cant privitize it and make loads of money from it for their contributors they would be as happy seeing it disolve and blow away…cause all those takers and moochers and users…ya know the elderly, the disabled, vetrans ,childern ,etc etc
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There they go again…trying to bring facts into a political argument. When will they learn?
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This is not going to stop the Rethugs from doing everything in their power to repeal the New Deal. They have been fighting this batter for decades; why give up now? I do hope the voters reward them for their heartlessness, their obstructionism and their complete failure to govern.
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Was the word “crisis” ever a correct one to use to begin with? It seems the issue with SSDI was one of pure demographics. We have an aging population. As people age their predisposition towards becoming disabled increased dramatically, especially once people reach their 50s. Once the disabled baby boomers die off or transition into regular Social Security retirement it would seem the curve will level off, and that seems to be exactly what is happening.
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As usual, the Republicans are merely interested in destroying any form of soc sec in order to make it a for profit system whereby their big donors rip off more people.
I wish the “lazy Media” would delve into the economics of the social security system and put the facts to the American people. It is really surprising how many people buy into all the alarms the right wing press and the Republicans conjure up regarding the so called perils of the soc sec system.
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Truth be told the media knows very well that talk of demographic trends make eyes glaze over, whereas reports of the “nigger” Welfare Queen milking the system are apt to get people to tune in more frequently. It’s their business model.
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Dems need to pour a little more salt into this wound - that was created by the Repub hatred for New Deal. Today it was announced that the number of people who are getting Healthcare Insurance is on a very upward trend, especially in South. Imagine if people who needed healthcare to recover from an injury were actually helped by ACA and they returned to work, rather than go on permanent disability. OH MY!
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^^^ What cwazycajun said! ^^^ The vast majority of elected Republicans just do not care about how these types of policies affect the economy at-large or us individuals.
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Be interesting to see if the expansion of health coverage under Obamacare helps continue that downward trend in
disabilities needing federal support.
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So? It’s not like they need a rational reason to try and cut SS. The Disability “crisis” was just a means to an end; they just want to cut it, “crisis” or not.
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We might need to take a look at what the trend is in applicants rather than recipients. Because what we might really have is an entirely other crisis–a crisis where people who need and are entitled to disability are having their claims improperly denied or delayed. Anecdotally, I can tell you of lawyers who decry the difficulty of getting someone who’s utterly disabled by mental illness an appropriate, or any, disability rating and seeming randomness in who does and does not get such a rating.
Are recipients going down because applications or going down or because more claims are being denied and/or deferred until the applicant gives up or dies?
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It’s incredibly difficult and takes a very long time, often years, to get disability no matter how severe your problems. My daughter has been going through this, for years now, and has a long effort still ahead. I have little doubt many die before their cases are decided, nor that many if not most are denied without justification. The common “wisdom” is that it takes a specialist lawyer and about three tries before there’s much chance of being approved. Every try takes a very long time, from months to a couple of years.
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I don’t understand this statement. If people become disabled they’re disabled and are therefore qualified to receive SSDI. The only way I can see the ACA contributing to a “downward trend” in disability claims is by providing people with the means (health insurance) to see a doctor and treat those conditions early on, which conceivably would go on to become something more serious, hence qualifying them for disability benefits. Is that what you meant?
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This chart, if marked for presidential terms, would show that every increasing trend was during a Republican’s term and every decreasing trend was during a Democrat’s term. And then the chart should be displayed prominently in the news.
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In the states with Medicaid expansion, the ACA Medicaid provision provides a lot of people with medical care. Untreated conditions do tend to get worse with time, perhaps leading to disability, not to mention death. Proper treatment therefore would tend to reduce SSDI numbers. This would not be true in the un-expanded states, which might mean there’s another potential drop in SSDI numbers if the other states ever get their acts together with expansion.
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It would be nice if there was a map posted outlining the counties that have the most DI beneficiaries. Most of them are in the south and a heck of a lot are in rural Kentucky where McConnell did quite well when he was reelected.
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I think you are right on NCSteve. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw the chart. My 50 year old sister was totally crippled by Rheumatoid Arthritis, her fingers were so twisted she could hardly hold a spoon and could not wrap her hands around a glass, had to drink from a cup with a handle. It took almost 5 years to get through the obstruction of trying to obtain disability benefits. And she had worked for 30 years paying into SS. I have no doubt you are spot on.
Exactly! Our reliance on facts to rebut the Repubs’ onslaught against Social Security is like engaging in a debate with ISIS. I mean, really?
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They’ve gotten so bad at their jobs that they can’t even create a crisis.
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