Going For The Dole
Last week I wrote a piece about undergoing some psychiatric testing. It was part of my new career....trying to qualify for Social Security Disability insurance (SSDI).
One of the comments was that he'd rather I'd be healthy enough to be working instead of being 'on the dole."
Now you'd think I'd be offended about that but I'm not. Getting SSDI isn't being on the dole. It's your money. It's part of the Social Security program. You pay into it with each paycheck. The more you pay the more you get each month. No one else is paying into this but you.
I often hear about what a scam disability insurance is. How there are so many people who are undeserving and they should be working. A lot of that is true. But there is another side of this.
I'm going to introduce you to some people who have been unsuccessfully fighting the system.
Meet Ken. He's 52 years old. Married with two teens. Ken is dying. He has ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He filed his claim in 2011. He was initially turned down. He was told he could sit at a chair and work.
He got a lawyer and appealed. He has his hearing coming up in February. His condition has worsened. I believe he'll win his appeal but it never should have come down to this. There's been way too much stress on Ken and his family.
Meet Robin. She's 43, never married, and no children. Robin had a high powered career as a chemist for a pharmaceutical company. She made a lot more money as a chemist than she ever will with SSDI. Every time I see her, she's going to a doctor, filling out a form or in major pain. Her problem is migranes. She's seen neurologists and pain specialists. No one can help. She's been in the hospital three times in the four months I've known her.
She took a different route and got a lawyer for the initial claim. She expects to hear a decision by the end of the month. Her chances of winning...maybe 50%.
Finally, there's Bill. He's pretty reserved. All I know about him is he's around 60. He suffered a major stoke about five years ago. Heavy damage to his left side. Walking and talking was impared. Lots of rehab.
He filed a claim and was successful. Other than some slow movement, you'd never know he had a stroke. That became a problem.
It was time for Bill to be reevaluated and he lost his benefits. He's lucky in that he has a great support group. Bill doesn't want to go through the process again. He's looking for work.
I can tell you ten more stories like these. I even have a couple where the process led them to suicide attempts. Luckily they were unsuccessful. The attempts actually helped their cases.
Every time I write about SSDI, I get comments and stories about how to do it. The good news is they eventually got their money. The bad news is it took a long time to get it.
So the next time you want to complain about how people are taking advantage of the system and should be working, I'll show you a dozen people who would gladly trade places.
Always be careful about who and what you're judging. It doesn't take much for you to become the subject of a story.