Trump Administration Quietly Goes After Disability Benefits

[Fists_of_Fury]

If you can work you shouldn't get disability. ADHD and bull**** like that shouldn't qualify for any kind of welfare. Anyone that receives but didn't put in should be removed. This isn't socialism and welfare programs, ssi, etc... shouldn't exist anyway. Get a job. If you can't then your family should take care of you, not taxpayers being robbed to fit your bill. Personal responsibility needs to come back into account. Families taking care of their own should be pushed over the government tit.

[Chrismart]

The DWP in this country are often critized for their findings after their regular 'fit for work' meetings. One that stands out is Stephen Smith, a sick man who weighed six stone. The pictures of him in hospital were very grim. He died not long after having his benefits stopped.

There's lots of cases too of very sick people committing suicide after having their money stopped.

The assessors were put under investigation at one point.

[Citizen Koba]

The DWP in this country are often critized for their findings after their regular 'fit for work' meetings. One that stands out is Stephen Smith, a sick man who weighed six stone. The pictures of him in hospital were very grim. He died not long after having his benefits stopped.

There's lots of cases too of very sick people committing suicide after having their money stopped.

The assessors were put under investigation at one point.

Ms Koba used to work within the system, man, and I've got a ton of stories from folk I've come into contact with. Some real tragic shit. Worst thing is these folk, often the most vulnerable and with the least power often end up being demonised as the source of societies problems instead of it's victims.

Ain't saying there ain't some milking the system but their economic impact is massively overstated in the press and only a fraction of what is lost in unpaid revenues and corporate welfare.

[Citizen Koba]

A proposed regulation would add a new layer of scrutiny to disability claims.

Some Americans could lose Social Security Disability Insurance benefits under a recent Trump administration proposal ― a change that could affect thousands of people but that has received little attention since it was first floated in November.

Under the proposed change, the government would look more closely at whether certain disability insurance recipients still qualify as “disabled” after they’ve already been awarded those benefits. While recipients already have to demonstrate their continuing disability every few years, the proposal would ramp up the examinations, potentially running still-eligible beneficiaries out of the program.

The extra reviews will help “maintain appropriate stewardship of the disability program,” the administration said in the proposal, arguing current rules fail to account fully for the possibility of medical improvement.

It’s just one of several unilateral moves the Trump administration has made against social programs that make it easier for people to survive without labor market income. The proposals may save the government a few dollars, but they also send a political message that President Trump is cracking down on the “takers” Republicans have vilified for decades.

Democrats and disability advocates said the proposed new regulation would only hurt disabled people, that it hasn’t been vetted and that the rule-making process should be delayed. More than 8 million Americans receive disability benefits based on past employment and a loss of wage income due to the onset of a severe disability.

“We are concerned that under the proposed rule, some individuals subject to review will be simply unable to navigate the process and, as a result, lose their benefits even though there is no medical improvement,” a group of House and Senate Democrats led by Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said in a December letter.

The administration, for its part, is making only a halfhearted argument that ramping up medical reviews to kick people off disability benefits is actually going to help them. “We believe that there may be positive employment effects as a result of these proposed rules, although we cannot currently quantify them,” the Social Security Administration said in its notice of proposed rule-making.

“If they haven’t improved enough to go back to self-supporting work then they probably should still be eligible for benefits,” Kathleen Romig, a senior policy analyst at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said in an interview.

More in the article...

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5...-NZSnz27DmbSts

Ms Koba used to work within the benfirts system here in the UK and not only has there been a deliberate move over the last decade to increase the complexity and reduce the transparency of the benefit application process, but staff were specifically advised that they were not to offer help or advice with filling claims unless asked certain specific questions...

They were also advised to refer clients asking for help to the Citizens Advice Bureaus ... which have been subject to savage funding cuts and in many area are now either closed altogether or only open one or two days a week by appointment. It was openly acknowledged within the system to be one of a bunch of methods to reduce the number of claimants and successful claims irrespective of their actual needs or health requirements.

Naturally it was the most vulnerable and least able to fend for themselves that had the most difficulty filling in the forms... hell, I've helped people fill em in myself and they're daunting enough for someone pretty literate and I reckon fairly smart

[Chrismart]

Ms Koba used to work within the system, man, and I've got a ton of stories from folk I've come into contact with. Some real tragic shit. Worst thing is these folk, often the most vulnerable and with the least power often end up being demonised as the source of societies problems instead of it's victims.

Ain't saying there ain't some milking the system but their economic impact is massively overstated in the press and only a fraction of what is lost in unpaid revenues and corporate welfare.

Ah man, it's sad to hear isn't it.

[DoubleLeftH00k]

Too many lazy fooks scamming the system, people be parking on them disabled parking lot with they mercedes and disabled tag then they come out they be walkin like a normal fooker