SISTER REPLY] Disability story

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MOST OF US HAVE TO FIGHT FOR OUR BENEFITS BECAUSE OF PAST ABUSE OF THE SYSTEM. MY HUSBAND WAS DECLARED LEGALLY BLIND AND ALTHOUGH HE GOT DISABILITY ON HIS FIRST TRY, HE STILL HAD TO WAIT 6 MONTHS TO START DRAWING IT AND HAS TO WAIT ANOTHER 1-2 YRS TO GET MEDICARE. THAT IS SO CRAZY AS HE NEEDS THE MEDICAL NOW TO GET MEDS AND FOR HIS DIABETES.Shari Ferbert <shari23@...> wrote: Here are the transcripts from the 2-part CBS story that aired this week -posted on Co-Cure.Shari

Ferbert***********************************************************************CBS aired a good story on disability January 14 and 15. Those who have hadproblems getting Social Security Disability can take an assumed name andcomment in the blog section. I think they need to hear from us. Thanks toLocalME for pointing this out. -- Schweitzerhttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/14/cbsnews_investigates/main3712627.shtmlDisabled And WaitingCBS News Investigation: Backlog In Disability Benefits System LeavesThousands Of Vulnerable Americans StrandedATLANTA, Jan. 14, 2008(CBS) This is the first part of a CBS News investigation into SocialSecurity disability benefits.

--------------------------------------------------------------Each year, millions of people who are disabled from an accident or diseaseturn to the federal government for Social Security disability payments - abenefit that every worker who is declared disabled is eligible to receive.It's a 51-year-old government insurance program - a lifeline of sorts - thatevery worker pays for through that line-item on their pay stub, known asFICA. But a two-month CBS News investigation reveals that safety net may not bethere when you need it most. "I always figured that I'd die in a fiery car wreck or something, never thatI'd be disabled," 33-year-old told CBS News chief investigativecorrespondent Armen Keteyian. Two years ago, a failed surgery left with a fracture in his spinalcord. It turned his life upside down, leaving him unable to work in his jobas

a broadcast engineer. "Everybody says, 'You gotta have a positive attitude,'" said. "Youknow, and I say, 'Well, I am positive. I'm positive this is the end,' youknow. I mean it's not going to get better." Declared disabled by the state of land, was told he was "shoo-in"when he applied for federal disability last year, only to be turned downthree months later on the grounds, according to federal guidelines, hewasn't disabled enough. appealed, and was denied again. He's one of 27,000 land residents - 68 percent of all those who applied- to suffer such a fate. Overall, two out of every three people who apply for federal disabilitybenefits are rejected by a government agency that critics say is out ofdate, underfunded, and incapable of serving the exploding number of disabledAmericans. Waiting times for a hearing in some cities are more than threeyears. Fullerton,

an advocate for the disabled, told Keteyian: "I have peopleall 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. Losinghome 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 awaitinga decision. Overall, the backlog of cases now stands at 750,000 - up 150 percent since2000. 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 foundRice, who suffers from mental illness, he'd been waiting for three years forhis 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 themto 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 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 2.5years to get your hearing," Hogan said.That's because there are some 24,000 cases waiting to be heard. And onlyabout 15 local judges to handle them. "We have a lot of room for improvement," said Social Security Commissioner Astrue, who took over the federal disability program last year. Hestepped 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 canheal. And it is healing."

Keteyian asked: "But what do you say to the people who have stood in thatline, that three-year line?" "I don't have a defense. I don't think it's a good thing. It don't think itshould have been allowed to happen," Astrue said. "We're probably not gonnabe able to drive back the backlog down at the arte that it went up. Butwe're sure as hell gonna try." That's little consolation to the likes of , who has had to relyon his parents to simply survive. "You pay into a system that you think is gonna help you in your time ofneed, and it doesn't even acknowledge that you even have a problem," said. C MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. . ================================http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/15/cbsnews_investigates/main3718129.shtml"Failing The Disabled"Investigation: Disability Benefits System Harbors Culture Of Denying Help ToEven The Most Unfit To Work Comments 146ATLANTA, Jan. 15, 2008(CBS) This is the second part in a CBS News investigative series aboutfederal disability program. --------------------------------------------------------------Two years ago, 52-year-old Sherry Farner was a manager at a Denny'srestaurant. But heart problems, strokes, and kidney failure put an end toher employment. "I can't be alone, because I fall a lot. This is the hardest thing I've everbeen through," Farner told CBS News chief investigative reporter ArmenKeteyian. "And I wouldn't wish this on nobody." When

Farner filed a claim against a lifetime of paying into federal SocialSecurity disability, she was turned down -- twice. Even though a rejectionletter acknowledged she was severely disabled. But not disabled enough:Unable to perform work of any kind. "It's a very tough standard," said Astrue, commissioner of theSocial Security Administration. "And you can argue whether that should bethe standard or not, but I'm stuck with that." A two-month CBS News Investigation uncovered a system whose own standardshave been called into question - a federal agency reeling from budget cutsand high staff turnover. Doctors making decisions outside their specialties,and inexperienced examiners under pressure to keep costs down. "We're failing the disabled on a very large scale," said Trisha Cardillo,who worked inside the system for years, reviewing 200 federal disabilitycases a month in Ohio. She now fights for

those seeking disability benefits. "There were a lot of times when I was fighting with management because Iwanted to approve a claim," Cardillo said. "And I had to go through so manysteps and - jump through so many hurdles to do that, it just seemedridiculous," All part, says Cardillo, of a culture built on denial. Examiners warned bytheir superiors that approving claims today could cost the governmentmillions tomorrow. "So are you saying, in essence, there was a quota system?" Keteyian asked. "Every state had different numbers," she said. "They know that a certainpercentage of people, once denied, will never file an appeal." CBS News has learned that two-thirds of all applicants denied last year -nearly a million people - simply gave up after being turned down the firsttime. Given how many claims are ultimately approved, that could mean hundreds ofthousands of Americans are not getting the

benefits they paid for - anddeserve.Keteyian asked Astrue: "One of the state examiners we spoke to, told us thatpeople were singled out, talked to, if they approved too many clients." "You can approve too many, and you can approve too few. And they're bothwrong," Astrue said. That's not what the examiner told CBS News. She said that in her state therewere quotas to be kept at a certain level. "It's not the way the system works," Astrue said. Keteyian said: "That's the way it worked in her office." "You can always find a disgruntled person," Astrue said. But we found nearly three dozen former examiners from 14 states who told usabout a system-wide "culture to deny." Part of the reason for that, says Jim Allsup, who employs former SSAemployees at his Illinois-based company Allsup Inc., is that there is "aninherent conflict-of-interest between protecting the disability trust

fundand providing the appropriate level of service to the claimant." That's something CBS News found in a review of 50 cases across the country,where patients diagnosed with strokes, heart attacks, even brain cancer,were rejected for disability payments. "Nobody cares if a case is denied. If you approve it, it will be subjectedto intense scrutiny," Cardillo said. No surprise to Sherry Farner, whose case was finally approved by a judge afew weeks ago - after a two-year wait. But not before losing her car, herlife savings, and nearly her home. C MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. .