If you are looking for more things to be thankful for during this season of gratitude, I have a fun exercise for you.
Go down to your local Social Security office and apply for disability payments. You will quickly be thankful it isn’t necessary. If you’re already on Social Security disability, you can be glad not to have to go through the process again. If you’re in the middle of applying for SSI or SSDI ... well, I hope you have other things in your life to be grateful for.
Before I go further, let me offer a basic primer in disability payments for the uninitiated. The U.S. government offers two main benefit programs for people with disabilities: Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income.
SSDI is a program administered by the Social Security Administration that is funded by the Social Security trust (i.e., those payroll deductions that eat away at your gross income). It was developed to support workers who become permanently or temporarily disabled. SSDI is not based on income and is available to people who have contributed to the Social Security Trust (with the exception of an adult child with a disability who is accessing a parent’s contributions).
SSDI recipients also receive Medicare, a health insurance program that is managed at a federal level.
SSI is a program for people who are low-income and also have a disability. While SSI is also administered by the Social Security Administration, it is funded by general tax dollars, not the Social Security Trust. In Colorado, like many states, SSI recipients are eligible for Medicaid, a health insurance program that is managed at the state level, although the feds help fund it.
Confused yet?
Here’s the fun part. To qualify for either or both of these programs, applicants must prove that they have a disabling condition that prevents them from gainful employment (i.e., sufficient employment to support oneself). In an attempt to reduce fraud, the application process has become so rigorous that many people with significant disabilities end up in a lengthy appeal process (which can be one to two years).
So, after applicants have fought for two years to prove that they are unable to work, and they finally start receiving benefits, what is the first thing that the Social Security Administration does? It starts sending materials about how you can get back to work. Great idea, but after fighting so hard to prove that they can’t work, many people fear that the offer to work again is a merely a trap.
The reality is, almost anyone can work. Some people may not be able to work enough to fully support themselves. And for some, finding the right match of a job/employer for their particular skills may be extremely difficult. But the responsibility and fulfillment of employment is far more of an entitlement than any government program.
So I give thanks for my job, and I await the day when “having a fulfilling life” and “meeting basic needs” aren’t mutually exclusive.
Tara Kiene is the director of case management with Community Connections Inc.
