Disabled And Waiting
CBS News Investigation: Backlog In Disability Benefits System Leaves Thousands Of Vulnerable Americans Stranded
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Disability Pay Rejections
A two-month CBS News investigation has revealed that many individuals who are disabled are either being rejected or waiting years for a decision on benefits. Armen Keteyian reports.
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Scott Watson suffered a fracture in his spinal column but has been unable to get federal disability benefits. (CBS)
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Each year, millions of people who are disabled from an accident or disease turn to the federal government for Social Security disability payments - a benefit that every worker who is declared disabled is eligible to receive. It's a 51-year-old government insurance program - a lifeline of sorts - that every worker pays for through that line-item on their pay stub, known as FICA.
But a two-month CBS News investigation reveals that safety net may not be there when you need it most.
"I always figured that I'd die in a fiery car wreck or something, never that I'd be disabled," 33-year-old Scott Watson told CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian.
Two years ago, a failed surgery left Watson with a fracture in his spinal cord. It turned his life upside down, leaving him unable to work in his job as a broadcast engineer.
"Everybody says, 'You gotta have a positive attitude,'" Watson said. "You know, and I say, 'Well, I am positive. I'm positive this is the end,' you know. I mean it's not going to get better."
Declared disabled by the state of Maryland, Watson was told he was "shoo-in" when he applied for federal disability last year, only to be turned down three months later on the grounds, according to federal guidelines, he wasn't disabled enough. Watson appealed, and was denied again.
He's one of 27,000 Maryland residents - 68 percent of all those who applied - to suffer such a fate.
Overall, two out of every three people who apply for federal disability benefits are rejected by a government agency that critics say is out of date, underfunded, and incapable of serving the exploding number of disabled Americans. Waiting times for a hearing in some cities are more than three years.
Linda Fullerton, an advocate for the disabled, told Keteyian: "I have people all the time writing to me, saying they are suicidal."
Fullerton's online support site is home to one horror story after another.
Reading from emails, she said: "Had to file bankruptcy to keep home. Losing home with four children."
A two-month CBS News investigation has found that over the last two years, at least 16,000 people fighting for disability benefits died while awaiting a decision.
Overall, the backlog of cases now stands at 750,000 - up 150 percent since 2000.
People wait an average of 520 days for a hearing on their claims.
People like Jerry Rice, who calls an abandoned tool shed home. When we found Rice, who suffers from mental illness, he'd been waiting for three years for his day in court.
"So. Jerry, this is how it ends up for you?" Keteyian asked.
"This is how it is," Rice replied. "I hope it's not how it ends up."
But he believes he deserves the disability?
"I'm not asking them to give me welfare," Rice said. "I'm just asking them to give me what they promised. Yeah, I deserve it."
"It's a mess from the time you apply - till the time you get a hearing," said attorney John Hogan, who has represented thousands of folks in Atlanta, the backlog capital of the nation.
"We're the furthest behind of any area of the country, it could take 2.5 years to get your hearing," Hogan said.
That's because there are some 24,000 cases waiting to be heard. And only about 15 local judges to handle them.FYI: Resources on Disability Benefits
"We have a lot of room for improvement," said Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue, who took over the federal disability program last year. He stepped up efforts to fix the system many call broken.
"So I think it's been broken the way a leg is broken," he said. "And it can heal. And it is healing."
Keteyian asked: "But what do you say to the people who have stood in that line, that three-year line?"
"I don't have a defense. I don't think it's a good thing. It don't think it should have been allowed to happen," Astrue said. "We're probably not gonna be able to drive back the backlog down at the arte that it went up. But we're sure as hell gonna try."
That's little consolation to the likes of Scott Watson, who has had to rely on his parents to simply survive.
"You pay into a system that you think is gonna help you in your time of need, and it doesn't even acknowledge that you even have a problem," Watson said.
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FYI: Resources on Disability Benefits



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See all 336 CommentsAnother point to be made is that the nightmare doesn''t end even if your disability is approved. Social Security has a TWO YEAR wait period before medicare coverage after a disability determination. If a person makes as much as one dollar above poverty on disability, then they are denied medicaid or given medicaid with a $1500/month premium and probably can''t afford the premiums for CHIP coverage.
So while I''ve been fortunate to receive the disability determination, I probably will become one of the death statistics while I wait for healthcare coverage.
And waht was I told by the case worker when I asked what I should do? He told me my work history was too good and that I should give up my independence and go into assisted living. Then I''d be covered.
Gosh, this is where 32 years as an educator and school administrator got me. I had hoped to meet my grandchildren.
BOTTOM LINE:
THE GOVERNMENT DOESN''T GIVE A *** ABOUT ITS VETS!!!
Rick
BOTTOM LINE:
THE GOVERNMENT DOESN''T GIVE A *** ABOUT ITS VETS!!!
Rick
My case was filed March 26 of 2001.
I put money in to SSI my entire life and I have a Medtronic device implanted in my back along with 2 wires jumped over vertabrae.
I live in the wonderfull state of Indiana and yes I have a lawyer that works just on Disability.
Mike
Indianapolis
Posted by cooper491
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Name a system that actually would work. Hard to get money from a system one doesn''t put into... and, yeah, SSD needs fixing. It''s nice of CBS to put up the article.
Posted by knorm5
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I am compelled to agree. Each person''s case is unique...
Still, in terms of one-sidedness, NOTHING compares to the one article from CBS (60 minutes) where the guy lambasted the Iraqi soldier for killing insurgents was horrible. Maybe the interviewer could go into combat and see what it''s like to live and have to make split second decisions. There is no time to ask a bunch of probable killers "Hey, you gonna kill me?" or something?! I need to look up the article, but my heart goes out to the guy he was skewering on national television.
People call Social Security and Medicare a free ride, I say "BALONEY!" If anyone thinks it''s a free ride try the ride yourself! Our money has "In God We Trust" on it, but try being on Social Security Disability and getting married, if you do then one of you will lose part of your monthly payment because they say you make too much. That''s why so many people on Social Security divorce, their joint income is too much and usually one of them loses their medication coverage, so divorcing gives them that back because it appears they are alone, but they''re not really. It makes no sense to me that a country that tells us, "In God We Trust" turns around and punishes us for getting married as God says is the right thing to do.
Lastly, those who have paid into the system all their lives have to sit back and watch our country send hospital ships all over the world giving out free exotic surgeries to third world countries and we can''t even get our teeth fixed through Medicare and Medicaid, all they''ll do is clean, fill, and pull. If you need a crown or implant you can forget it! We were forced to pay into the system all our working lives yet they barely help you when needed, or let you die. Doesn''t anyone see anything wrong with this picture?
THANKS FOR NOTHING (REALLY HOPE & PRAY I NEVER NEED THE GOV. HELP)BECAUSE I KNOW IF I DO I''M IN (BIG) TROUBLE
Tres Lollis.
Trlol@bellsouth.net
Dont get discouraged! I am a dwm 45, waited two and a half years before getting my SSDI ALJ hearing for Major Depression, Anxiety and ADD. Unfortunately, I too had to depend on my parents for finances until I received my fully favorable decision. I would prefer to be gainfully employed but unfortunately not only have a debilitating illness but a debiitating mental illness STIGMA to deal with as well. Keep the faith and thanks for having the courage to go nationally with your cry for help! THANK YOU CBS NEWS FOR BRINGING ATTENTION TO THIS PROBLEM!
What happens to people who cannot work and cannot win their disability claims? I am a single parent. Once I can no longer pay my rent, I guess I''ll be homeless with two children?????
Can''t anyone help us???????????????
All parties that have participated in the last 15 years should be held accountable for their part in this conspiracy. Please continue to report this abuse for the sack of others less fortunate. Please vote the politicians out of office, who continue to circumvent their own desires in front of others less fortunate.
I too am waiting to receive a decision on a claim. All the Adjudicators and thier supervisors took 2 weeks off for the Xmas holidays! Of course they''re backed up!
This guy Astrue needs to get his head out of the sand. He hasn''t got a clue. And one hand doesn''t know what the other is doing. For each person you talk to, you get a different answer to the same question. (Except of course for the ever consistant "I don''t know")
This system is a sick joke run by people with no conscience and absolutely no humility. But then, that is the American way.
everyone''s trying to scam the system and everyone''s a bunch of lazy welfare bums except for the god-fearing law-and-order self-righteous schumcks like yourselves
The role of the disability process is to be a gatekeeper. The SSA appeals section is overwhelmed, underfunded and understaffed. On the one hand you have stories like CBS talking about people who are hurt and cannot get disability and on the other you have conservatives criticizing the system for paying people who sometimes can and do work. The average disability recipient receives back within 1-2 years all the money they ever paid into the system. Their remaining decades of benefits will be paid from other taxpayers'' contributions. So, as a taxpayer I want a properly funded and staffed system to provide for the truly disabled and protect our country''s pocketbook from people looking to defraud the system or an easier way out of unemployment.
wel-fare. Instead of making wel-fare recipients go to work like the government said was going to happen, all the wel-fare recipients applied for Disability. They were too lazy to work, the government gave them wel-fare then the government gave them Disability. Then the government decided to change the laws in 2006 to make it harder for people to get their disability. Now when a person has worked and paid in their disability and gets hurt, They have this long waiting period. My brother has been waiting exactly 2 years. I have been supporting him with my disability. We just found out that my brother could have been drawing SSI which is about $600.00 a month. He was turned down once for this but could have applied again but no one told him. The local Social Security office is not supposed to volunteer this information but if asked directly they are supposed to answer truthfully. Well the social security office lied to us and the division of family services lied to us also. We have begged for help from DFS, from Social Security, from churches, DAEOC, and even from our Representative
Joanne Emerson-none of them helped. I was suicidal from all the stress last July, my brother became suicidal in August. Now it is January and we are still waiting for a decision. This government and all it''s officials are going to have a lot to answer for when they go before GOD.
The role of the disability process is to be a gatekeeper. The SSA appeals section is overwhelmed, underfunded and understaffed. On the one hand you have stories like CBS talking about people who are hurt and cannot get disability and on the other you have conservatives criticizing the system for paying people who sometimes can and do work. The average disability recipient receives back within 1-2 years all the money they ever paid into the system. Their remaining decades of benefits will be paid from other taxpayers'' contributions. So, as a taxpayer I want a properly funded and staffed system to provide for the truly disabled and protect our country''s pocketbook from people looking to defraud the system or an easier way out of unemployment.
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