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IT'S NOT WELFARE. IT ISN'T A HANDOUT. YOU BOUGHT THE INSURANCE.

Unfortunately, I run into people who still feel that Social Security disability is a type of welfare.  Or that it's a handout.  Or a scam upon the US Government.

It is none of those things.  It's collecting benefits from an insurance policy that you were forced to purchase.

During your working years, the US Government forced you to have FICA taxes deducted from your pay.  Your employer matched those deductions dollar for dollar.  The US Government has collected trillions of dollars in FICA taxes.  In return, the Government enrolled you in Medicare and Social Security disability insurance policies.  (The term Social Security is appropriate).  It's just like you bought an insurance policy from Blue Cross, or Allstate or State Farm.  Except for one thing:  you were not given a choice.  It was pay the FICA for Social Security taxes or go to jail.  

Now that you cannot work because of a physical or mental disability, you are entitled to collect on the insurance that Uncle Sam sold you.  It's called Social Security disability insurance.  Problem is, the Government often does not want to pay out benefits to those who have disability insurance.  In Alabama, 7 out of 10 applications for disability are denied.  Some of those individuals may not be disabled under Social Security's terms and definitions.  But many of them are.

Do I feel bad about helping these individuals get their benefits?  Nah!  Why should I?  It's your money and you need it now!  Here is why I feel good about helping disabled individuals to get what Social Security owes them.
  • You paid for the insurance all your working life.
  • The Government forced you to buy the stinking insurance!
  • The Government wrote the terms under which you can collect.
  • The Government decided how much to charge you for the coverage.
  • Now, the Government should pay up, like any other insurance would.
Time for Uncle Sam to quit whining and complaining about the cost of Social Security disability. It's too late for that.  Should've thought about it 40 years ago before you forced several million people to buy your disability insurance. Time for the media (60 Minutes, PBS, the New York Times, Judge Judy and rest of that bunch) to shut up about scams, swindles, drug users and alcoholics (who can't qualify for disability benefits in the first place).  Time to pay off legitimate disability claims without useless delays.

And truly disabled persons should not have to hire a Philadelphia lawyer just to get the benefits they paid for.  All right, it would put me out of work - but it's still the truth.  When you sell me insurance (especially if you forced me to buy it), don't whine when I come to collect benefits. Just pay up as promised.

Well, then, Social Security is going broke. Not really.  Social Security is and always has been self financing.  It has collected enough FICA taxes to keep it solvent for the next 125 years!  So what's the problem?  Problem is, the Congress "borrowed" $3.1 trillion from the Social Security trust funds (FICA taxes) and used the money to pay other government debts, everything from foreign aid to useless pork barrel projects around the globe.  In place of the $3.1 trillion they borrowed, they left behind useless IOUs.  Now they have the unmitigated gall to blame the problem on disabled workers whose money they stole?  PLEASE!

If you have a legitimate disability I will be pleased to try to help you collect the benefits you bought and paid for (and were promised).  And when you get those benefits, I will smile and perhaps laugh out loud.  (If you do not get the benefits, neither of us will smile, for neither of us will get paid).  As it should be.


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