A big DU Thank You to the DU members who really came through!

bobbolink

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Mon Aug-30-10 06:26 PM
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A big DU Thank You to the DU members who really came through!

Edited on Mon Aug-30-10 06:36 PM by bobbolink

Several DU members who posted in my thread on SSI and SSDI terminations really showed their support and I wanted to take this opportunity express the sense of gratitude their responses engendered.

In yesterday's thread about the increasing terminations of people on disability, there was significant progress made.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9034376
Following is a brief run-down of the suggestions and research.

I want to thank scarletwoman first and foremost for adding this issue to her campaign against the demolition of Social Security. Those of us on the bottom rungs of this issue are usually forgotten, and the suffering is immense. Thank you, scarletwoman, for your activism to put us in the focus of your effort!

Thank you to DJ13 for "Exhibit A"

Said it perfectly.
Coburn quoted a book, �The Tragedy of American Compassion,� which he said �talks about how we used to care for everyone who needs our help.� Now everyone relies on the government, he said.
�SSDI has been so monkeyed and maneuvered, fully half the people on it are not truly disabled,� Coburn said, referring to the Social Security Disability Insurance program. I want to help people who are fully disabled, but we have created dependency. And I agree on the drug testing.�
http://muskogeephoenix.com/local/x329608417/Coburn-Hold-me-accountable

Thank you again to DJ13 for "Exhibit B"

Posted by Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall at 4:09 pm, August 25, 2010
Useless Eaters: the Stigmatization of Health Problems
Posted by Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall on @ 4:09 pm
Article printed from speakeasy: http://blogs.alternet.org/refugee
URL to article: http://blogs.alternet.org/refugee/2010/08/25/useless-eaters-the-stigmatization-of-health-problems/

As a psychiatrist battling the stigma of mental illness for more than 30 years, I am gratified by growing public awareness that that schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder run in families and are, at least partly, biologically determined. Thankfully the days when it was socially acceptable to blame depressives for being lazy or not doing enough to help themselves are long gone.

I wish I could say the same of physical illness which, after all, is basic to human existence. The US, unquestionably, has the most reactionary and punitive attitude towards illness in the world. It comes out in all manner of regressive and inhumane government policy: the federal government�s absolute refusal to make sick and parental leave mandatory (as it is in all other industrialized societies), the pressure for long term recipients of Social Security disability benefits to undergo continual review and mandatory treatment (which most have no way of paying for, as doctors have stopped accepting Medicare and Medicaid), as well strong pressure on doctors to declare them well enough to work; and now a proposal to change eligibility for Social Security retirement to make the elderly �prove� they are too sick to work.

The Growing Attack on Entitlements

In the growing attack � by Republicans and Democrats � on entitlements, there are always assertions � either direct or implied � that sick people are somehow responsible for the problems that make them unable to work. However what troubles me even more is the way so many Americans have internalized these attitudes � how ready they are blame people who get sick on eating the wrong food, not exercising or not managing stress properly. Epidemiological studies show clearly this is not the case � lifestyle factors only account for 10 percent of what causes us to become ill.

There is no question that the US has parted company with the rest of the world on this. I think it�s important to ask why. Quite frankly I hear a lot of discussion that is ominously reminiscent of Hitler�s �useless eaters� initiative. And I think it�s time to ask whether this is simply �coincidence� � an accident of history � or if there are more sinister reasons why this might be............

I want to thank Silver Swan for "Exhibit C", the 2010 Social Security Trustees Report.
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/2010/V_programatic.html#89099
As she said, "It mentions that disability terminations are expected to increase through 2018 because SSA will be working through a large backlog of continuing disability reviews."

I want to thank pinto for "Exhibit D"

The OASDI report projects an increase in terminations from 9.1 / 1,000 to 11.6 / 1,000.
This is through 2019, for "recovery" from disability. The "recovery rate" tracks disability benefits terminated due to a review of initial medical determinations
The age-sex- adjusted recovery rate under the intermediate assumptions is assumed to rise from a relatively low level of 9.1 per thousand beneficiaries in 2009 (reflecting temporarily lower levels of continuing disability reviews) to 11.6 per thousand beneficiaries by 2019.
This is a projected increase of 2.5 terminations per 1,000 beneficiaries over ten years

I want to thank laughing liberal for "Exhibit E"

�I believe it's real and I believe it's related to Congress approving $700 million in cuts to SSDI which happened in 2006. That amount was to be cut over 5 years. It's now 2010. I'm sure they're ramping it up to meet their target.�

I want to thank maryf for suggesting that if everyone researches and adds one piece, it will amount to a big effort. I will add to that my suggestion.. that someone call some advocates of disabled people, and ask what increases they are seeing, and what results they see.

Along with that, I thank OneGrassRoot, Cetacea, and laughingliberal for continuing to look online for more information.

I thank maryf for her recognition that there is only so much I can do, and that this is the time for others to do their part.

Thank you to The Kentuckian for laying out the foundation of the issue:

�These folks are easy prey in our system. Nobody speaks for them and few can be bothered to care other than being really worried that somebody, somewhere is "getting over".

�So, when the wolves come they are left alone to combat them and usually to fall. I think that is part of what this thread is about to start banging the drum so that hopefully the issues of our poor and disabled start to get some coverage and are allowed out of the shadows.

�This segment of the population does not have advocacy groups with corporate dollars streaming in, it does not have a journalistic natural constituency, nor does it have a receptive audience that cares about then in the broader population, not until their they are suffering so much that those that go out of their way to avoid seeing them have no choice but to see.

�The specifics can help but there is a much more basic thing we need to do for these underprivileged people is to let our decision makers know that the safety net being strong is important and that we will not accept those with next to nothing having to make do with less or being thrown away to save money to be diverted to the war machine and the wealthy.

�If you don't have the details to fight a specific battle take on the broader one. Poverty must become a part of our consciousness again and never forget since but by grace so would we go.
This is why people are thrown away, it can be done in the name of cost control and fighting fraud. The reality isn't important just that there is the feeling that nobody is getting off easy somewhere but of course no matter how Draconian the system is there will be anecdotal evidence that somebody gamed it and that gets run with.
The stories aren't written. These people have no voice. There will be no stories without the public demanding our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers, neighbors and friends are never left behind and that the "least among us" are taken care of.

�This as you well know does not fit the narrative of the powerful who are busy as beavers to undermine and cut the safety net.

�We must demand a voice for the poor, not wait for them to get one to fight for them.

I want to thank laughingliberal for the clarification of how this system works, and that these measures can be carried out in the dark:

�This is not the only place I'm hearing of people getting thrown off their SSDI. It IS happening.

People who have no other income are at a real risk of starving if they are cut off.

It would be hard to get to $700 million without throwing some people off the rolls.

The problem with issues such as this one are there is rarely anything spelled out in policy. These types of changes are generally in the form of changes in focus. Much like Bush I's instructions to the IRS to leave the wealthy alone and focus on the middle class and self employed, there were no changes to the law or tax code but there was a change and real people who were filing just as they had been for years found themselves targeted for audits over the most mundane entries on tax forms.�

�My instinct is this is taking the form of more aggressive review processes for those who don't have one of the some 50 diagnoses that don't meet the automatic qualifying criteria.

�Here's what I plan to do. I'm calling Reid's office (he's my Senator) and stating I'm seeing quite a few reports of people on SSDI for long periods of time getting thrown off the rolls and that I understand there were steep budget cuts to SSDI in 2006. I will say I'd like them to look into it and would appreciate any light they can shed on this. I will also say I am not happy with the demeaning and debilitating process people must endure to apply for and keep their SSDI benefits and that I am not in favor or people being left to starve while they attempt to work their way through this inhumane and unwieldy system. I really don't see how I've lost anything by doing that. �

I also want to thank ThomCat for amplifying how and why this can happen:

�The government isn't going to ADMIT that they have an ongoing effort to kick disabled people off the rolls in order to save money. That would be a PR disaster.
Saving money by attacking the poorest and most desperate would make for bad press. So of course they are going to keep it quiet.

But of course they are going to do it too. Constantly making people with disabilities re-prove that we have disabilities in order to stay on the rolls will always force some percentage of people off. Anyone who can't afford to see good enough doctors to maintain good enough medical records won't be able to document their disability well enough to satisfy these evaluations. Gone. The government saves money. It doesn't matter that you really are disabled. The fact is, you're desperately poor, and that makes you vulnerable.

I want to thank dotymed, ThomCat, Dragonfli, walldude and all of the DUers who have posted their own experiences with disability here. In an often hostile atmosphere, it is not easy to make oneself vulnerable by sharing these experiences and I appreciate their courage in doing so. I know I am sometimes criticized here that all my posts are, "all about me." In my defense, let me say when people's survival is threatened, it tends to dominate their thoughts and actions. How could it not? Also, I know there are many others facing the kind of hardships I do and posting my experiences is an attempt to draw attention to the issues which affect so many and are, by and large, invisible.

I want to thank Bluebear for stressing that this is an emergency!

�This is an emergency. In this era of Republicans "holding people accountable", as if they shouldn't have let their jobs be outsourced overseas, or shouldn't have let themselves get cancer, the disabled need help in stopping the catastrophe that Reagan started, in not having the safety net of Social Security - Disability.

I want to thank Monique 1, AuntPatsy, proud2BlibKansan, Beaverhausen, OneGrassRoot, earth mom, maryf, inna, niyad, and aikoaiko for their efforts in making calls and writing and otherwise doing all they can to bring this issue to light.

I want to thank laughingliberal for carrying this work into the future with her suggestion for action:

�It sounds like the sort of issue Taibi might take up or someone on the nation. Perhaps some of us could email them and see if we can work up some interest. People have different levels of being able to expose themselves to publicity. �

This is a great beginning for taking action on this issue that is definitely desperate. Thanks to all the DUers who put together so much in such a short time! If I have left anyone out, apologies, and please let me know by PM.

I look forward to taking the next step with this project, and hope we can affect some real change!