The Social Security Disability syetem is messed up. Money is going to those who do not need it. People are abusing the system and getting away with it.
I am a mental health therapist. I worked in a homeless shelter for quite some time and this is what I saw:
- Regarding most of the people in there, I was puzzled as to how they were getting social security disability. They were not clinically disabled in any way and if they were most of them did not have a disability severe enough to keep them from working.
- Most of the people in there could afford to live on their own with the help of things like section 8 housing and other multiple income based programs.
- The first week of the month was always dead. Their social security checks would come in. Like every day staff would pass their mail out and they would be MIA for the first 7 days. Why? Because they use the SS disability money for drugs and hotel rooms then come back to the shelter for the remaining three weeks out of the month. Most admit to this.
I now work with males on parole and probation that are in trouble because they have violated. The violation has something to do with substance abuse/dependence. This is what I see:
- During an intake or assessment I am shocked at the number of them who collect social security disability. They do not work and sit at home every day. They deal, use themselves and commit crimes.
- Most of them are getting social security because of a learning disability when they have no problem reading and understanding the paper work at admission. The other half are getting social security disability because of depression or anxiety. These people are younger than me and I’m 34.
I do volunteer therapy at a women’s counseling center. This is what I see:
- As for the women receiving social security disability, I have to wonder how they get it. Most often, they live with family and take care of their parents. A lot of these women use disability $ to pay for jewelry and new cars because they have no bills. They are not disabled and there is nothing that would hold them back from working.
As for my own family, my mother (who I have very limited contact with) is opiate dependant and collects social security disability for arthritis in her thumb. COME ON! That supposedly keeps her from working?
I am a strong democrat but working so close to the system and with people who are in the system can be very frustrating.
Who is to blame? I feel the blame falls on us all. Greedy attorneys (you see the commercials on TV all the time) doctors who sign papers just to get these people out of their office, judges, the government, therapists and the people.
Can somebody help me to understand why this is happening and why so much social security money is wasted - yes I said wasted? Can somebody tell me why the government does not have their employees checking up on this (except for the cost factor)? Can there be a more thrall, better screening processes? The way I see it anybody can get social security disability. The difference between most of them and me is that I have a conscious and I do not feel the world owes me something. These people do, they tell me they feel this way.
Think of the money we could save. We could give more money to our VA hospitals and those who really need it.