[HN Gopher] The startling rise of disability in America (2013)
___________________________________________________________________
The startling rise of disability in America (2013)
Author : pseudolus
Score : 67 points
Date : 2025-06-07 14:46 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (apps.npr.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (apps.npr.org)
| renewiltord wrote:
| VA disability is one of these big scams. People have gotten
| pretty good at transforming brands into money these days. So
| socially respected groups like firefighters or military use the
| chance to extract massive wealth from productive society.
| vkou wrote:
| Have you made any VA claims, or have you worked for the VA?
|
| I know people who have done both, and profligacy is not
| something either would accuse the organization of.
| lokar wrote:
| AIUI, pretty much everyone can get a partial disability
| rating for tinnitus
| jwiz wrote:
| Sounds...legit tho? I sure wouldn't want tinnitus, so if
| that can be softened, seems worth doing.
| olalonde wrote:
| I think the implication is that people who don't have
| tinnitus can also claim it - there's no objective test to
| verify whether it's true.
| lokar wrote:
| Also, what is the point of a partial disability payment?
|
| Is it to compensate you for the lost income you couldn't
| have earned if not for the disability? That would be in
| line with the goal of normal disability.
| the__alchemist wrote:
| I know a lot of 100%-disabled vets who had desk jobs while
| in, who are healthy, rock-climb etc. It's absolutely an
| abused system. Basically, you claim various categories, and
| get 10% disability for each category you claim.
|
| edit: They usually have full-time jobs too.
| vjvjvjvjghv wrote:
| When I lived in DC I knew several vets who received
| disability payments, worked well paid full time jobs at
| defense contractors and otherwise lived normal active lives.
| It definitely looked a little questionable
| nullstyle wrote:
| I recommend you search youtube for "va disability 100
| percent" and witness the staggering number of channels
| clearly teaching people to game the system, complete with
| shush face thumbnails. There seems to be some profligacy from
| that angle.
| lazyasciiart wrote:
| Next you're going to tell me that all those "get rich by
| buying my book" YouTube channels mean people must be
| getting rich by buying their books.
| nullstyle wrote:
| So are you saying all of the people who watch these
| channels (in your analogy they "buy get rich quick
| books") never try to get a disability status? or they try
| and never make it?
|
| Or do they go for an interview, get their tinnitus, ibs,
| or chronic back pain diagnosis then try again for more
| next time?
|
| ----
|
| Look, I'm not saying we shouldn't help/trust veterans; My
| father is a severely disabled Vietnam war vet and gave up
| his body for the air force over a long career. He
| deserved to have his stairlift paid for by the taxpayer,
| but he shouldn't have to fight with corrupt service
| providers who can't do a proper job installing the thing.
| He shouldn't have to deal with a contractor that won't
| repair the botched installation for a year because it
| would cut into their profit margin.
|
| Similarly, he shouldn't have his services degraded
| because other vets have found out how to take more than
| their fair share. I'm open to think there is minimal
| graft, but my experiences say there is some more going on
| than I can be supportive of.
|
| Maybe you could provide some data to show how I'm
| mistaken.
| wormius wrote:
| You're the one making the claim and assumption and "gut
| feeling" so it sounds like YOU are the one needing actual
| data for your "gut feelings".
|
| Sorry this is the same bullshit people do when they see a
| person able to stand for a few hours and say "WHY ARE
| THEY ON DISABILITY" and ignoring the rest of the time
| they aren't seeing, or the people recovering. This is
| just hearsay, and since you're the one making these
| claims, then it behooves YOU to provide the proof.
|
| But it's a nice little racket, make a claim and then
| demand those who deny it provide the proof. That's now
| how science or respectable arguments work.
|
| This whole thread is full of such bullshit. And it's so
| people can feel superior to those who they think are
| scamming the system (in an ever increasing need to "crack
| down" on those who "abuse" the system (slowly killing it
| over time, or until you can get a DOGE in and ransack it
| like a viking ship plundering coastal communities).
|
| Anyways, citation needed, since you're the one making the
| claims.
| nullstyle wrote:
| go look back at my original statement. the tools to
| verify what I asserted are right there; go search youtube
| and see for yourself.
|
| I'm not trying to feel superior, i'm trying to broaden my
| perspective by offering my own and engaging with people
| who comment on it.
| roarcher wrote:
| I'm a veteran and I know several fellow vets who openly
| admit to lying to the VA to get disability ratings for
| maladies they don't have. No, I don't have statistics
| about how many disabled veterans are lying (how would one
| gather that information, exactly?), but it is a regular
| occurrence that I meet guys who brag about their 100%
| ratings, ask me about mine, and look at me like I'm some
| kind of poor naive idiot when I tell them that I did not
| claim disability because I do not feel that I'm disabled.
|
| I do not claim that everyone on VA disability or SSDI is
| a fraudster. I know veterans who are missing significant
| portions of their body. I dated a women on SSDI who
| absolutely needed and deserved it for a neurological
| disorder. But she knew a family where _every single
| member_ went on it as soon as they turned 18. Scamming
| SSDI was essentially their family business.
|
| I am not advocating for DOGE to take an axe to these
| systems. But just because you or I might find DOGE
| distasteful does not mean that significant fraud and
| abuse does not take place. I can only assume that you
| have not spent much time around these systems or people
| who use them. Anyone who does immediately hears about
| their misuse, often from the perpetrators themselves, who
| are proud of their own cleverness for doing so.
| missedthecue wrote:
| There are entire online communities around gaming the system.
| On how to report pre-service injuries as service related. On
| how to deliberately build a huge medical file while you're in
| to support your disability claim later. On where to go and
| when, in order to get your highest possible rating. Things to
| say and not to say. There is an entire industry of paid
| consultants that help you get the biggest claim possible.
|
| It's a big issue. Over 30% of vets today have disability
| compared to 15% in 2008. 3% of federal revenue goes to paying
| veteran disability alone and it's climbing. No politician can
| talk about it because campaigning on taking money from
| disabled veterans is the best way to nuke yourself in the
| polls.
| jhp123 wrote:
| we should have talked about it back in 2001 before we sent
| these young men to risk their lives and health in a
| misbegotten crusade. The rise in costs for veterans care
| was predictable:
| https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/02/terror-war-
| co...
| missedthecue wrote:
| There's plenty of things to say about the waste and
| pointlessness of the GWOT.
|
| But there were never enough deployments to justify these
| levels of disability claims. And not every person
| deployed goes into combat. And not every person that goes
| into combat becomes disabled. A rise was predictable. 30%
| simply implies a lot of a dishonesty.
| 9x39 wrote:
| I agree with you about the VA, although everything I know is
| secondhand.
|
| I make two generalizations from veterans I know: one type
| accumulates injuries throughout service (neck, knees, hips,
| shoulders, back, toxic exposure) but being the walk-it-off
| types, never documented much because they were often deployed
| and didn't bother with paperwork. Bitterly complains about the
| VA and their limited or temporary disability ratings despite
| grinding pain and difficulty in later life.
|
| Second type is similar to the first type, but played the 'game'
| optimally, documented, documented, and documented. While you
| can absolutely get some of the same injuries, I was surprised
| to find things like mild sleep apnea and male pattern baldness
| helped get someone a permanent 100% disability rating. No doubt
| life isn't easy, but to think this individual is 100% disabled
| is a bit of a stretch when they also work full-time for .gov
| doing project work.
|
| My point is that like a video game, people are very good at
| finding the optimal or 'meta' path to maximizing outcomes in a
| set of rules, and outcomes from a system can be different than
| what casual observers might think is the intended purpose of
| the system.
| trogdor wrote:
| > male pattern baldness helped get someone a permanent 100%
| disability rating
|
| I find that very hard to believe. Do you have evidence that
| this is true?
| roarcher wrote:
| As a veteran I haven't heard of that particular one, but
| I've heard of disability ratings given out for trivial
| enough things that I think it's plausible. I knew of one
| guy who got it for PTSD after being stationed in Okinawa
| doing an office job for 4 years. And I know another who has
| a rating for migraines, which he freely admits to not
| having and lying to the VA about.
|
| I never applied for disability of any kind, but it would
| seem that the VA examiners question nothing and hand out
| ratings like candy. According to the migraine guy, it's one
| of those situations where they have to find things to spend
| their budget on or they lose it next year. I'm of the
| opinion that if they can afford to spend their budget
| supporting freeloaders and liars then perhaps it would be
| better used by some other office, but I digress.
| lokar wrote:
| It's not obvious, but I'm pretty sure this is from 2013 (I
| remember hearing it when it aired).
| Uvix wrote:
| Confirmed - if you follow the "Listen to this story" link, it's
| from 22 March 2013.
| pyrophane wrote:
| Glad you posted this as I remember hearing about this situation
| some years ago but couldn't remember where.
| dang wrote:
| Good catch!
| https://web.archive.org/web/20130326035330/https://apps.npr....
|
| We've added the year to the title above.
| WalterBright wrote:
| It's not startling at all. When people are paid to be disabled,
| what else would one expect?
| skulk wrote:
| I agree. Allow me to present a modest proposal...
| paleotrope wrote:
| Bread and circuses
| datavirtue wrote:
| Chronic back issues...omg. You can literally exersize your way
| out of them. It's the only treatment and it is VERY effective.
| Living proof.
|
| People run into back issues (very common and will probably happen
| to everyone) and doctors send them home with print outs showing
| them them how to repair their back. They throw the paper away and
| go back when "they need surgery." That makes it worse.
| WalterBright wrote:
| I have chronic back pain, recently diagnosed as osteoarthritis.
| I can attest that doing all the exercises the doctor's printout
| shows keeps the pain at bay.
| analog31 wrote:
| This is as good a place to mention it as anywhere: My
| physical therapist told me that people who work at a computer
| all day have a high risk of osteoarthritis.
| datavirtue wrote:
| Get the Back Mechanic book. Author is a genius.
| cachecrab wrote:
| Some people need pain reprocessing therapy. Have you read the
| book The Way Out by Alan Gordon?
|
| https://www.painreprocessingtherapy.com/
| https://www.amazon.com/Way-Out-Revolutionary-Scientifically-...
| Taeper wrote:
| This works for a lot of back issues but not all of em! For
| example syringomyelia, depending on where it forms, can be
| exacerbated by working out. So ideally make sure you have a
| good idea of why your back hurts before you start, but it can
| be hard to diagnose.
|
| https://asap.org/disorders/articles/exercise-concepts/
| datavirtue wrote:
| Yeah, there are definitely edge cases but most back pain is
| self inflicted. The common knowledge around back issues is
| REALLY bad and doctors, oddly enough, do not help and are
| often ignorant themselves.
| olalonde wrote:
| > Fewer than 1 percent of those who were on the federal program
| for disabled workers at the beginning of 2011 have returned to
| the workforce since then, one economist told me.
|
| Do they lose their "disabled" status if they go back to work? If
| so, that seems like a textbook poverty trap. Why risk losing
| lifetime free money for a minimum wage job that might not last?
| lazyasciiart wrote:
| Yes
| genewitch wrote:
| I have a friend 'trapped' by government aid. They receive some
| benefits from being diagnosed with something as a minor and
| their father received a government aid that conferred to them.
| Its SSDI IIRC; the rules say they can't get married, can't own
| property, can't earn more than $X/unit of time.
|
| The 27 years I've known them have been punctuated by my saying
| "what if you do this to solve your current issue" and the reply
| is "I'll lose my benefits"
|
| I'm unfit to say if they need it; as in I am unsure if their
| life would be worse or better without.
|
| Don't read too much into the setup, above; my memory is fuzzy
| unless I am directly talking to them about it, and even so they
| correct me like, "its not ssi it's ssdi," or whatever it is.
| This is to +1 with an anecdote.
| roarcher wrote:
| I dated a disabled woman for a bit, and this is exactly how
| it was. Every possible solution to her situation had better
| be 100% guaranteed to work, because it was guaranteed to get
| her ejected from SSDI, never able to reapply unless she
| developed a new and unrelated disability.
|
| She wasn't even allowed to save money for an emergency fund
| or a large purchase because there was a limit to how much
| liquid cash she could have at any time, and it was something
| like $2000. If she demonstrated an ability to save more than
| that, the bureaucrats would take that as irrefutable evidence
| that she was well enough off to not need help, and boot her
| from the program.
|
| Every single thing about the way that program is administered
| actively prevents its users from bettering their situation.
| genewitch wrote:
| a refrain i hear a lot from my friend, who does actually
| have issues, i wasn't trying to imply they didn't^, is,
| "What if i [go to school], get a job, and then something
| happens where i can't work, but they've already kicked me
| off? I'd be in a way worse position"
|
| They could go to school and make enough money to take care
| of themselves, obviously, but the threat of losing the
| safety net is enough that they still never went to school,
| and have only worked for retail a few times over the years
| for maybe 6-12 hours a week, obviously at minimum wage.
|
| ^ just in case it seems that way.
| Civitello wrote:
| >can't get married<br> This is the next frontier in marriage
| equality.
| mensetmanusman wrote:
| Sugar and inactivity are a hell of a drug.
| nurettin wrote:
| So is inbreeding.
| AndrewKemendo wrote:
| I am a 100% P&T disabled veteran - I have handicapped parking and
| all of that.
|
| I could sit here and list out all the medical and legally
| accepted reasons that the Veterans Administration, and as a
| result all other regulatory bodies, give me this status
| (epilepsy, constantly dislocating shoulders, hip arthritis,
| tinnitus, PTSD etc...)
|
| However I have friends, colleagues and neighbors who are
| measurably less physically and mentally capable but are not
| considered disabled.
|
| When I look at the job market, MOST people are not capable of
| doing their individual life without significant training, help,
| direction or supervision. People call this bad-state "adulting"
| and find it onerous.
|
| Said another way, the vast majority of people do not have the
| cognitive ability, education (self taught or formal), or
| experience to set goals, take actions and self improve without
| significant direction from someone else. I personally consider
| that disabled.
|
| So if these people are considering themselves disabled, then they
| are probably right - they are incapable of being independent or
| living within a community that takes care of them. So the only
| remaining community left is the abstracted transactional monetary
| system implemented by governments to allocate resources toward
| them provided they check the right boxes.
|
| Ideally 100% of humanity would be on disability - because we can
| build systems measurably more capable than human labor - someone
| just needs to rebrand it as "UBI."
| DiggyJohnson wrote:
| Interesting perspective. A lot of the nuance and disagreement
| comes from what we mean when we say "incapable".
| dingnuts wrote:
| No, the view that "everyone should be on disability" is just
| socialism..
| constantcrying wrote:
| I would absolutely hate to have to think myself "disabled" and
| I would hate the idea of the state seeing itself as my
| "caretaker".
|
| What you are describing is also the opposite from what liberal
| democracy was envisioned as. It was supposed to be a state,
| which created complete and mature citizens, which make well
| formed decision and can be trusted with governing the country.
|
| To be honest I do not think that you are wrong in your
| description, the state is certainly transforming into an
| institution where the citizen are envisioned as disabled
| wrecks, which are in desperate need of government support. I
| just hate that this is the case, it is fundamentally
| incompatible with the ideals of a liberal democracy.
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| The fundamentally incompatible part is that the citizens are
| not complete and mature?
| constantcrying wrote:
| If citizens are broken people who need the support of the
| state they obviously can not make informed decisions and
| should not be allowed participate in politics.
|
| The goal of liberal democracies is that the citizens are
| capable and mature and thus can be trusted with governing.
| lazyasciiart wrote:
| It was supposed to only count landowning males over 25, which
| was expected to consist of mature able citizens with assets.
| dingnuts wrote:
| so the problem is actually allowing renters to vote? that's
| a wild take I didn't expect to see on the orange site today
| but points for honesty and boldness I guess
| constantcrying wrote:
| I don't know what you are trying to say. Obviously what you
| are complaining about has changed and now all adults should
| be capable citizens.
|
| Is it wrong that the state wants to create capable and
| mature citizens who can be trusted with participation in
| government?
| akomtu wrote:
| Countries are created by adults and destroyed by children,
| and that's the normal stage of progress. The metaphorical
| adults, or the great souls, are experienced, self-directed
| and inspired by a vision of the great future. They know where
| they want to get and how to get there. The metaphorical
| children, or the young souls, live in the dark, clueless
| about what they are here for, so they chase minute
| distractions and learn by mistakes. However those mistakes is
| the only way to grow up.
| itishappy wrote:
| I just applied to a job and part of it was a disability
| disclaimer. Here's the list:
|
| * Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using
| drugs illegally)
|
| * Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia,
| rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
|
| * Blind or low vision
|
| * Cancer (past or present)
|
| * Cardiovascular or heart disease
|
| * Celiac disease
|
| * Cerebral palsy
|
| * Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
|
| * Diabetes
|
| * Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns,
| wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
|
| * Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
|
| * Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease,
| irritable bowel syndrome
|
| * Intellectual or developmental disability
|
| * Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar
| disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
|
| * Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
|
| * Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair,
| scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
|
| * Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches,
| Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
|
| * Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity
| disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia,
| other learning disabilities
|
| * Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
|
| * Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example,
| tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
|
| * Short stature (dwarfism)
|
| * Traumatic brain injury
|
| The form asks if you currently have or have ever had one of
| these in the past. Well, I don't know if anyone I've met
| hasn't. I said "no." I have no idea what the right approach
| here is.
| howard941 wrote:
| If you want the job the right answer's going to be no.
| Unfortunately only a small fraction of those maladies gets
| you on disability, almost none of them before age 50.
| leereeves wrote:
| Or say yes, then sue when they don't hire you.
| Buttons840 wrote:
| Yeah... Asking that can't be legal, right?
| hungryhobbit wrote:
| How can you say anything except no? Who, when applying for a
| job, wants to make themself look like a less attractive
| candidate?
| polarbare wrote:
| The hiring manager probably doesn't see it, but recruiters
| and HR do, and they have a mandate to make sure that the
| company is hiring at least X% of people with disabilities.
|
| In a world where 99% of resumes are never going to get seen
| by the hiring manager, checking the disability box might be
| the only way to have your application get past the initial
| recruiter/HR or recruiting-software screen.
| s1mplicissimus wrote:
| I'd definitely not tick "low vision" and then straighten my
| glasses in a disapproving manner
| cebert wrote:
| It's unfortunate that we can't seriously consider universal basic
| income in the United States. If we provided every adult citizen
| with $13K annually during their working years, it could offer
| support to those unable to find meaningful employment without
| forcing them to declare themselves disabled just to survive. That
| label can take a real toll on a person's psyche and limit their
| belief in their ability to grow or find better opportunities. We
| also have to be realistic and realize AI is positioned to replace
| a significant number of jobs in the next decade. A safety net
| like UBI will only become more essential moving forward.
| vjvjvjvjghv wrote:
| That would require a total rethinking of our economic system. I
| doubt this will happen without any catalyst like war or
| revolution.
| olalonde wrote:
| Not necessarily. The US government already spends >2000$ per
| adult per month. It would require a total rethinking of the
| role of government.
| paxys wrote:
| Spends on what? It's not like you can disband the military,
| not build roads and bridges and eliminate medicaid just
| because you send out a $1000/mo UBI payment.
|
| If you want to consider just social assistance then the US
| government spends about $950B annually, and that works out
| to $2800 per year per citizen. To make it a livable amount
| you'd have to _at minimum_ 5x that expenditure (and a lot
| more than that in urban areas).
| olalonde wrote:
| The comment I was replying to proposed a UBI of
| $13,000/year or roughly what many people on disability
| currently live on. That would cost around $3.4 trillion
| annually, leaving over $3 trillion for everything else,
| including roads and the military. Of course, you'd still
| need to make cuts somewhere - likely from existing
| entitlement programs.
| paxys wrote:
| I just posted the number that entitlement programs
| currently use, and it is under $1T. So you're basically
| saying "it's easy to implement UBI, we just need an extra
| 2.4T/yr lying around somewhere" (which is equivalent to
| 1/3 our total budget). Scale it up to realistic numbers
| (no one is surviving on just $13K/yr, plenty of people
| need more than just average support e.g. for medical
| conditions) and you're easily talking $5T+.
| olalonde wrote:
| It wouldn't be very comfortable, but yes - it's possible
| to live on that amount. Many people on disability do so
| today. If it's not enough and you're unable to work,
| you'd have to rely on savings, family, or charity. And
| yes, the idea would for UBI to account for over 50% of
| current government spending and to get rid of most
| existing government programs (except core functions like
| military and law enforcement). That's why I ended my
| original comment with "it would require a total
| rethinking of the role of government."
|
| By the way, I think you're overlooking the strongest
| criticism of my UBI proposal: that it would reduce the
| incentive to work, potentially lowering labor
| participation and, in turn, government tax revenue, which
| could make the system unsustainable. It's hard to predict
| whether that would be a real problem or not.
| zahlman wrote:
| > no one is surviving on just $13K/yr
|
| There are many countries around the world where that
| would be normal, or even a sign of affluence.
| paxys wrote:
| We aren't talking about many countries around the world,
| just one
| bryanlarsen wrote:
| Or we'd have to raise taxes by 2.4T dollars. Which isn't
| as extreme as it sounds, since we're at the same time
| giving everybody money. If 2/3 of the amount of UBI is
| paid for with increased taxes, the average taxpayer will
| come out ahead. "We're raising your taxes by $10,000"
| doesn't sound as bad as when accompanied by "and here's a
| cheque for $13,000". Bill Gates' taxes will go up a lot
| more than $13,000, but the average taxpayer will see a
| very small benefit.
|
| The other benefit of raising taxes is that it will
| control inflation.
|
| And $13K/year isn't enough to live on, yet many disabled
| people do just that. 4 people each getting $13K can
| probably live together on that. Living alone is a luxury.
|
| And with UBI, there are no limitations on you
| supplementing your income on the side. One of the biggest
| criticisms of UBI is that everybody will stop working. If
| UBI is $13K/year pretty much only those who are unable to
| work will not supplement their income with work.
| sokoloff wrote:
| > and a lot more than that in urban areas
|
| Or, if the UBI is insufficient, you could work or move
| someplace less expensive.
|
| Most anything else would feel unfair (as a result of
| being so) and tend to drive a cycle of inflation in the
| expensive urban areas rather than working against it.
| okanat wrote:
| I agree. Some libertarian economists noticed that endless
| growth demands slavery-like conditions and the economic
| collapse one way or another. They are trying to back away
| without using the s-word and invent half-baked solutions like
| UBI.
|
| UBI by itself will not solve the problems. It will only drive
| exorbitant inflation. Implementing UBI requires socializing
| many institutions and nationalizing big companies. People who
| control the biggest portions of the economy will not give
| their power up without a war.
| olalonde wrote:
| > Some libertarian economists noticed that endless growth
| demands slavery-like conditions and the economic collapse
| one way or another.
|
| Which economists? That doesn't sound libertarian at all.
| Libertarians who support UBI typically do so because they
| see it as a pragmatic alternative to inefficient welfare
| systems. They certainly wouldn't support abandoning market
| based economics.
| trod1234 wrote:
| Not just a total rethinking, but rather a total redevelopment
| to find an economic system that is just as stable as
| capitalism in a free market (without fiat).
|
| Socialism fails 100% of the time given sufficient time, UBI
| is tied to socialism.
|
| If your food production yield is dependent on maintaining
| your supply chain which fails under socialism, you basically
| run into a hysteresis trap under socialism where this fails,
| and everyone starves to death.
|
| Its like the ending of Daybreakers.
|
| Just an FYI, Money-printing/non-reserve debt issuance is a
| catalyst for war/ revolution.
| mouse_ wrote:
| More safety equates to less people willing to work slave jobs
| for slave wages. They're just gonna make disability bucks
| harder to access.
| whatever1 wrote:
| Even with 100k / month basic income, the landlords would simply
| raise their rents to 200k / month. Because why would they give
| up their generational wealth?
| qgin wrote:
| In this model, does the current existence of people in
| poverty basically serve as a ballast that gives everyone
| else's "above poverty" money a higher, stable value?
|
| Would it ever be possible to not have poverty without making
| everyone's money worthless?
| userbinator wrote:
| _those unable to find meaningful employment_
|
| I don't want to pay to feed freeloaders.
| vjvjvjvjghv wrote:
| I thought disability is often the only way for people to get
| support when there is no other option for welfare.
| therealdrag0 wrote:
| I remember some article mentioned that the rise in disability
| correlated with the fall of welfare availability. (I didn't
| read article so donno if covered)
| desireco42 wrote:
| A lot of people are people on Obesity... Which is what Kennedy is
| trying to fix and address. It is better to enable people to help
| themselves.
|
| Big corporations have interest to have us weak and confused, from
| being perpetually single to other ways to make us dependendent on
| "services"
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| You think that an administration with good intentions of
| helping people would start off by kicking people off of the
| existing aid systems and tearing down institutions? Even
| institutions like the National weather service?
| Hilift wrote:
| This grossly understates the current 2025 financial impact of the
| problem, and is directly linked to the ~$36 trillion debt.
|
| There is a target to reduce Medicaid recipients by 4.8 million by
| 2033, by requiring them to attend school or volunteer 80 hours
| per month. That's a lot.
|
| https://www.nola.com/news/politics/impact-on-louisiana-of-me...
|
| In the next four years, nearly every state that has huge Medicaid
| obligations will be forced to restrict and reduce access simply
| due to budget constraints.
|
| For example, California has 6.6 million enrolled in Medicaid and
| requires a staggering $85 billion federal assistance annual
| infusion for Medicaid. "People with disabilities composed 8% of
| Medi-Cal enrollees and accounted for 31% of spending".
|
| California has 49% of the population on employer-provided health
| insurance. Only 5% purchase private insurance (Affordable Care
| Act). However, 22% of Californians are covered by Medicaid. That
| number is unsustainable, and Governor Newsom is already enacting
| measures to reduce enrollment and eligibility.
|
| https://calmatters.org/health/2025/05/medicaid-work-requirem...
|
| https://www.chcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/MediCalFacts...
|
| https://calmatters.org/health/2025/05/medi-cal-assets-newsom...
| gusgus01 wrote:
| California is not a great example, since they pay out to the
| Fed so much more than they receive, so that infusion isn't
| really an infusion when you consider the overall budgets.
| hollerith wrote:
| Nit: "the Fed" means the Federal Reserve Bank, which does not
| collect taxes. "The US treasury", "the Federal government" or
| "Fedgov" would work in your sentence.
| amanaplanacanal wrote:
| (2013)
| mike-the-mikado wrote:
| I find it really surprising that a current affairs report of
| this sort is not clearly dated. I wonder if NPR do better with
| more recent articles?
| dhosek wrote:
| Last Week Tonight did a great piece on the negatives of how SSDI
| disability works in practice:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq2s7RMRsgs
| dehrmann wrote:
| It's probably obesity, lack of opportunity, and cultural
| normalization.
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| Can those be fixed?
| cavisne wrote:
| Nothing compared to the NDIS rort in Australia. There is literal
| gang warfare over providing "services" to people with high
| payouts.
| Animats wrote:
| _" Somewhere around 30 years ago, the economy started changing in
| some fundamental ways. There are now millions of Americans who do
| not have the skills or education to make it in this country."_
| Not wrong, and sad.
|
| This article shows what Universal Basic Income looks like on the
| ground.
| sgnelson wrote:
| One thing I've noticed over the past 20 years. At least in the
| United States, we need less "ditch diggers." This means that
| those who are less intellectually capable find it harder to get
| employment in a suitable position. I think this is an issue that
| needs to be addressed. But you know, I live here and now, so that
| ain't happening.
| Yeul wrote:
| Companies would rather hire an illegal immigrant than deal with
| someone who is not 100% mentally or physically fit.
| wyldfire wrote:
| Eric Conn [1] is a fraudster who abused this with a scheme to
| bribe judges, doctors.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_C._Conn
| pragmatic wrote:
| This needs a 2013 flag.
| nlh wrote:
| I'll never forget the run-in I had with this corner of the labor
| market:
|
| Back about 15 years ago I was running a small business in the
| auto industry. A guy who did deliveries for us (entire job:
| driving cars to people) who was in his early 20s found himself in
| a very minor fender-bender -- he rear-ended someone else. He
| claimed his twisted his ankle from the jolt (based on where he
| was resting his foot). Fine, no big deal.
|
| He went to see a doctor shortly afterwards and immediately filed
| for a Worker's Comp claim. He then kept seeing that doctor and
| within a few weeks was given... _permanent disability_. Literally
| got a doctor to say he 'd never be able to work again. Full sign-
| off. He of course was seen walking around just fine a few months
| later.
|
| Absolute insanity.
| rowls66 wrote:
| This article is nearly 15 years old (2013). According to center
| on budget and policy priorities, the number of SSDI beneficiaries
| has fallen from is peak in 2014. So this article was written
| about a trend that peaked a year after its publication and had
| reversed over the past 15 years. Odd that it would be reposted
| today.
|
| https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/social-securit...
| trod1234 wrote:
| I think someone may have wanted to bring more attention to this
| because contrary to surface level opinion and the peak on the
| surface; there is actually a growing number of people who meet
| the requirements to be eligible for disability but who do not
| receive those benefits.
|
| There's a longstanding fear, and one that seems well founded,
| where those that meet the requirements won't actually file for
| it because doing so will have an adverse effect on any
| potential future employment.
|
| Disability discrimination during hiring is almost impossible to
| prove with AI these days.
|
| I've heard horror stories from some people at the shelter where
| I volunteer. One guy apparently had a county representative
| check the wrong boxes on benefit documents by mistake during
| welfare processing, saying a person was disabled because of a
| health condition (sleep apnea iirc) when they weren't disabled
| or receiving disability, and those people couldn't even find
| retail work afterwards.
|
| AI has opened the floodgates to all sorts of discrimination as
| a result of the weights and decision-making being a black box
| with no accountability.
| AngryData wrote:
| The problem with disability in the US is it is very easy to get
| kicked off of it, so nobody risks earning or saving too much
| money (I think you must maintain under $2000 at all times?) or
| pursuing a potentially viable career unless it is a 100%
| guarantee, because you can't go back on disability later for
| something you had when you were kicked off it, even if it is a
| progressive disease. You need to show new symptoms that by
| themselves are disabling or another qualifying ailment.
|
| And also getting on disability in the first place is such a huge
| pile of bureaucratic nonsense and bullshit to start with that you
| have to learn how to "game" the system just to get approval. It
| isn't setup to try and help people who need it, it is setup to
| disincentivize everybody as much as possible, even if you have
| serious brain damage, are nearly blind, and only have 3 fingers.
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