Elderly Refugees Losing SSI Benefits
- Thread starter AvesPKS
- Start date
There are refugees who have been here for over 30 years and have never learned the language, and never leave thier homes. This is a good way to encourage them to get involved in American society and pay thier own way.
I doubt anyone would argue with your assessment. Then again on $500 a month most of the places they could afford to live in . . . it's probably not safe to leave their homes.
agreed. perhaps this could have pushed them to becoming contributing members of society instead of leeches on society, now we just need to push harder.
Why not turn that $500 a month into free english classes for refugees, overall it will cost less to teach them how to become productive members of our society than to pay them every month.
Well that's $500 in known income, plus any additional benefits they receive from state/county/city resources, plus the incomes of those living with them (whether the government knows it or not), plus any unreported extracurricular activities (i.e. jobs), etc. For many of these people, having a roof over their heads, television, running water, heat, and other modern conveniences like a toilet is the life of luxury by the standards in their countries.
I have just learned something new here and my ears are hot to the touch I'm so f0cking furious.
I have worked since the age of 15, at least that is the age at which I began paying taxes and earning Social Security credits. I've worked various jobs since I was about 12, but there is no record of that.
By age 25, I earned enough Social Security credits to qualify for the maximum Social Security Disability benefit, in the event I should become disabled. At age 30, I became disabled due to narcolepsy, though I had been unwittingly suffering from narcolepsy since my late teens.
After receiving "textbook" confirmation of narcolepsy in 2002, I filed a claim for SSDI (full disability). The helpful and cheery foreign-born Social Security representative who barely spoke intelligible English was nice enough to recommend that I also apply for SSI (Supplemental Income), which is a lesser burden to meet than full disability but also pays less. The disability claim process usually takes 1~2 years, but SSI payments can start within a couple months, if I meet the criteria. Sounded like good advice to me.
My disability claim was denied, which was expected. Unless you are wheeled into the SS office missing all your limbs, consisting of just a torso and a head, the probability of being denied is fairly high. You have to get an attorney, appeal the denial, then appeal it again, until you get to the Administrative Law Judge Review, where most claims are approved. Nice little system it is...if you're an attorney.
But more to the point, while waiting for my disability decision, I receive a letter denying my SSI claim, because though the SS Administration concluded I have a "permanent disability", it is only "partial" in degree so I am not totally incapable of working.
It did not occur to me how outrageous this is until I read in the afore-linked article:
I'm unable to work, have no income, zero assets, the SS Administration formally declares I have a "permanent" disabilty of "partial" degree, but I do not qualify for SSI.
But had I not spoken English, SSA WOULD BE TRIPPING OVER ITSELF TRYING TO CUT ME A F-CKING CHECK!
It is currently 3:27AM, I am going outside now to scream to the top of my lungs and maybe break a few things.
God it galls me I have to support poor old broken people. Can't we just let them die. Anybody remember Darwin?
Particularly those poor perfectly able-bodied non-citizens who haven't contributed a flat nickel to the Treasury but receive SSI on demand the moment they set foot on American soil, while poor confirmed-disabled citizens who contributed 15 years worth of taxes to the Treasury get snuffed?
Makes perfect sense...if you're on Bizarro Superman's Planet.
Why not just raise taxes and subsidize the mistakes they have made throughout their adult lives? ...just assign every refugee to someone who makes more than society thinks they should, and let the more affluent pay their way through life...it's the American way.
Now get to work--there are millions of would-be refugees counting on us!
Now get to work--there are millions of would-be refugees counting on us!
Sorry to hear about your situation. While I'm no SSI or SSDI guru, I can tell you that I am related to/know of many people back home in KY who receive these benefits for seemingly less serious afflictions than yours.
Best of luck to you in fighting the bureaucrats.
I know well about SSI. Just keep applying- they'll deny as long as possible- they do that for everyone. Eventually you'll get it if you qualify.
Alot of attorneys handle just SSI claims. You should be able to find one who will work for a flat fee, like $1000-$2000. Since you'll receive SSI retroactively (from the day you first applied), you can pay the attorney with that.
I really don't understand the problem with the immigrants. If they're here for 7yrs why don't they want to learn English and become a citizen, especially if they're living off the welfare state?
Alot of attorneys handle just SSI claims. You should be able to find one who will work for a flat fee, like $1000-$2000. Since you'll receive SSI retroactively (from the day you first applied), you can pay the attorney with that.
I really don't understand the problem with the immigrants. If they're here for 7yrs why don't they want to learn English and become a citizen, especially if they're living off the welfare state?
I really feel for your plight, tcsenter. Not to be too personal but none of the current drugs is helpful at all for your narcolepsy? PM if you like.
One of my brothers used to date a woman (19yo) that was receiving disability b/c she was a Type I diabetic. I asked him to repeat his statement b/c I was sure I didn't hear him correctly. "Yeah doesn't make much sense to me, either", he said. He continued to say she gets disability b/c she's a poorly-compliant diabetic. She refuses to take proper care of herself. I already had a low opinion of her but there was still room for her to sink some more.
My wife has twin deaf sisters that still get some degree of disability payment. One has a full-time job in FL earning something in the 30s while the other owns two restaurants with her husband in KS. The one in KS actually used her disability savings to help purchase one of their restaurants. The one in FL used it as part of a down payment on their house. I know both report their family income accurately so it's not like they are trying to cheat the system. One in fact overpaid her taxes b/c IIRC the government doesn't tax SSI/SSDI . . . so they issued her a refund. Naturally, I wouldn't say this to my wife but I'm not sure this is what SSI/SSDI was intended for . . . although her sisters are certainly productive members of society.
As for refugees it makes perfect sense that they are immediately eligible for benefits due solely to an inability to speak English. Hell even our Middle Eastern spies don't speak Arabic so what are the odds these people could find gainful employment quickly?! But Vadatajs is right that after some psychosocial counseling and time for decompression these people should receive English and vocational education (for free at the community college) so that if they plan to stay in the US they find something to do with their lives.
One of my brothers used to date a woman (19yo) that was receiving disability b/c she was a Type I diabetic. I asked him to repeat his statement b/c I was sure I didn't hear him correctly. "Yeah doesn't make much sense to me, either", he said. He continued to say she gets disability b/c she's a poorly-compliant diabetic. She refuses to take proper care of herself. I already had a low opinion of her but there was still room for her to sink some more.
My wife has twin deaf sisters that still get some degree of disability payment. One has a full-time job in FL earning something in the 30s while the other owns two restaurants with her husband in KS. The one in KS actually used her disability savings to help purchase one of their restaurants. The one in FL used it as part of a down payment on their house. I know both report their family income accurately so it's not like they are trying to cheat the system. One in fact overpaid her taxes b/c IIRC the government doesn't tax SSI/SSDI . . . so they issued her a refund. Naturally, I wouldn't say this to my wife but I'm not sure this is what SSI/SSDI was intended for . . . although her sisters are certainly productive members of society.
As for refugees it makes perfect sense that they are immediately eligible for benefits due solely to an inability to speak English. Hell even our Middle Eastern spies don't speak Arabic so what are the odds these people could find gainful employment quickly?! But Vadatajs is right that after some psychosocial counseling and time for decompression these people should receive English and vocational education (for free at the community college) so that if they plan to stay in the US they find something to do with their lives.
They could be issued stationary bikes with generators and ride them to generate power, particulary at peak load times.
It'd be too inefficient. A better system would be to have them all go to a central location and turn one big generator together, one person to a peg just like in the movies.
Yep, I've had an attorney for several months and attended an ALJ hearing in December. It will take three months to get the decision, but the ALJ hearing is where most claims are approved. The longer it takes, the more my attorney gets paid, without actually having to do more work. What a racket!
I was taking Provigil on-and-off for three months and did not well tolerate it, plus the hives I broke out with during last few days I was taking Provigil seemed to resolve upon discontinuing it. :Q
I'm currently taking methylphenidate, which I tolerate well, and seems to improve the generalized feeling of fatigue, but has done nothing for the microsleep episodes and intrusion of REM into wakeful states that are the defining characteristics of narcolepsy. One clinical brief on narcolepsy, somewhere on the internet, states a person with narcolepsy may experience up to several of these episodes per week. I couldn't help but chuckle when I read that, because I have several per day.
Unfortunately, those exhibiting all four primary symptoms of classic narcolepsy (i.e. "narcolepsy tetrad") on a daily basis are most resistant to meaningful treatment; "rarely controlled" as my physician characterized it in his statement to the SSA.
That is interesting. Those who cannot even be marginally productive truly would give something substantial to be marginally self-supportive and rid of that dehumanizing check.
It would seem the system is replete with extremely questionable cases while the SSA makes compelling claims fight tooth and nail for it.
I have no problem with giving refugees immediate short-term (a few years) assistance. I really don't.
I am sure there are tonnes of businesses just waiting to hire 65+ year old refugees, as soon as they learn "Ingrish". My grandparents are getting it, and good for them. They are citizens now too. I am paying taxes, at least someone in my family is benefitting. Yeah they are immigrants, yeah they didn't pay jack into treasury, so what? They are old and worked hard all their life, and deserve some modest comfort in their final years. I am paying plenty into SS and medicare that I will never probably see. And since we have a pay as you go system, it doesn't really matter who paid what into where. I am paying, and I want my money to go to my grandparents.
As with most bureaucracies, it can be an infuriating system if you're among those who classically fall within the purpose for which the system was created, because everyone who is not supposed to benefit from the system has been working for years to game it.
For example. In Michigan, a law was enacted requiring all underground fuel tanks at service stations be of a particular leak and corrosion proof construction approved by the State's environmental agency. Service stations constructed after the law took effect would have an advantage of installing the approved tanks during initial construction with no loss of business, but established stations would have to close down and dig-up their old tanks at an estimated cost of $100,000 per tank.
A fund was created for the expressed purpose of helping already constructed stations defray the huge expense of 'changing' to these new fuel tanks, but guess who raided the fund? Yup, everyone but those for which the fund was created. Service stations constructed after the law took effect used the money to offset their initial capital investment, something the law was not intended to do. Just your average government shenanigans, really.
It would not surprise me to learn that an inordinate share of SSDI or SSI distributions were garnered by persons with questionable if not bogus claims never intended when it was created; such as alcoholics, substance abusers, and cross-dressers who are "incapable of working" due to the psychological trauma of receiving weird looks.
Had I contracted AIDS from free-wheeling unprotected group anal sex with multiple strangers in a Bay Area bath house, I'd have no trouble getting either SSI or SSDI.
But apparently, narcolepsy disproportionately afflicts a subset of the population who aren't inclined to form militant and obnoxious political advocacy groups.
The squeaky wheel does get the oil...and then some.
I can say you're getting ripped off. Many SSI lawyers work on contigency basis- will take a flat fee only after they win your case (ie:$1000+10% of retroactive payment)
Yeah, that's what I was referring to. He will take a percentage of my back payment. The longer this gets drawn out, the more back-payment I accrue = more money for him. If I were paid-out at the end of this month, their take would be about $4000; or roughly $800/hr based on the amount of work this law firm has performed on my case.
I figure billable hours would be (actual time worked in parenthesis) as follows:
Initial Consultation = 1 (45 minutes)
Research = 1 (40 minutes)
Record-keeping = 1 (30 minutes)
Documentation = 1 (30 minutes)
Second Consultation/hearing preparation = 1 (30 minutes)
Counsel at ALJ Hearing = 2 (80 minutes including travel time both ways)
Communications with court and SSA = 1 (15 minutes)
Communications with client and physician = 1 (15 minutes)
Total: 9 (no more than 5) hours = $4000.00
Man I'm in the wrong industry. Or I went into the wrong industry before this crap happened.
tcsenter: I really don't want to tell you this but at least your statements should be considered valid and not dismissed by some as merely ranting. Here goes:
You mention "alcoholics, substance abusers, and cross-dressers". Well, one of my relatives receives SSI or SSDI (don't know which) for "the effects of prolonged substance abuse", or something similar. He was prescribed Valium for a mental condition, became addicted and continued the addiction for about 20 years. If I'm not mistaken, I believe he rode the Valium train until about 5 years ago while receiving the payments.
Another relative hasn't changed physically or mentally in all the years I've known him. Yet he secured the services of an attorney and somehow receives SSI. Damndest thing I've ever seen. The dude won't admit how he pulled this one off. Must be some obscure, secret society or something.
Anyway, I wish nothing but good luck to you in this frustrating battle against the tweezerheads. It seems the most deserving must wait the longest when confronting these matters. Hang in there, and hopefully "the man" will see things as they actually are.
You mention "alcoholics, substance abusers, and cross-dressers". Well, one of my relatives receives SSI or SSDI (don't know which) for "the effects of prolonged substance abuse", or something similar. He was prescribed Valium for a mental condition, became addicted and continued the addiction for about 20 years. If I'm not mistaken, I believe he rode the Valium train until about 5 years ago while receiving the payments.
Another relative hasn't changed physically or mentally in all the years I've known him. Yet he secured the services of an attorney and somehow receives SSI. Damndest thing I've ever seen. The dude won't admit how he pulled this one off. Must be some obscure, secret society or something.
Anyway, I wish nothing but good luck to you in this frustrating battle against the tweezerheads. It seems the most deserving must wait the longest when confronting these matters. Hang in there, and hopefully "the man" will see things as they actually are.
Actually, the SSI rolls have thined quite a bit over the past 10yrs. No longer will someone qualify just for having a drug and alcohol dependancy.
That said, no doubt there are people on it that shouldn't be. I've worked with the disabled and you'ld be amazed at how the Social Security Administration ecourages people to give the "right" answers for qualifying. Once you're on it, it's very hard to get off- so much red tape. That's part of the reason they make it so hard to qualify to begin with.
That said, no doubt there are people on it that shouldn't be. I've worked with the disabled and you'ld be amazed at how the Social Security Administration ecourages people to give the "right" answers for qualifying. Once you're on it, it's very hard to get off- so much red tape. That's part of the reason they make it so hard to qualify to begin with.
Not to worry, I think I've heard them all and have first hand knowledge of many. There are too many documented examples to dismiss my statement as ranting. I don't think anyone could credibly deny the system is replete with misuse and fraud. Even the SSA admits that.
I have little doubt my case will ultimately prevail, but its a frustrating process, nonetheless. If I have to file a legal challenge in federal court, I will.
Oh crap, I just remembered, the federal appeals court in this region of the country is the fruity Ninth Circuit! Better appear with a highly visible Moveon.org button on my jacket that day.
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