SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY REFORM PETITION

[Guest guest]

I just thought this might intersest some of you.

Renate

SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY REFORM PETITION

Money is taken out of your paychecks every week for Social Security, and SSD

and as of January 2003 the US government GAO has designated Social Security

Disability a HIGH risk area for 2003. You could face homelessness,

bankruptcy and even death trying to get your benefits when you need them the

most. Anyone could suddenly find themselves in a situation where they need

to access this fund - such as an accident, catastrophic illness, a victim of

a crime, military personnel, veterans and now we have the threat of

terrorist attacks - these are unfortunate realities of life. Millions of

people across the country become disabled unexpectedly - 12,000 per week in

this country apply for long-term disability benefits. What happens if your

work disability insurance runs out, if you don't have it, or worse yet

become unemployed? You will then need to turn to the most mismanaged system

in the country - the Social Security Disability System. What you will find

is that the current system is set up to kill you so they don't have to pay

you. Billions of dollars are being spent in foreign lands and on pork

barrel programs, and we want the government to focus on and fix this growing

problem here at home now. Here are just a few of the major issues we would

like to see addressed:

We are concerned about what transpires from the first point of contact, the

filing for benefits, and the final outcome or status. Disability benefits

determinations should be based solely on the physical or mental disability

of the applicant. Neither age, education or any other factors should ever

be considered when evaluating whether or not a person is disabled.

Discrimination of this form is highly illegal in this country, yet this is a

standard practice when deciding Social Security Disability determinations

and should be considered a violation of our Constitution. This practice

should be addressed and eliminated immediately. Many people who apply for

disability don't " look " sick - you can't tell if a person has cancer, heart

disease, diabetes or any other debilitating diseases just by looking at

them. We did not chose this fate it was forced upon us! Yet we are treated

as " disposable people " and often viewed as lazy or frauds. The extraordinary

time it takes to process a claim from the original filing date should be

eliminated. Why should we have to become homeless, bankrupt, starve, lose

our healthcare coverage, suffer untold stress on top of our illnesses, and

even die trying to get our benefits? We are now being told that because of

the backlog that these are the only circumstances that anyone will even look

at our paperwork now no matter how sick we are. Why should we have to file

for welfare, food stamps and Medicaid after we have lost everything due to

this backlog - another horrendous process - because of the inadequacies in

the Social Security Disability offices and then have to pay Social Services

back from our measly benefit checks? Nobody else who files for public

assistance has to do that - why are disabled people being discriminated

against?

If we provide sufficient medical documents when we originally file for

benefits why should we ever be denied at the initial stage, have to hire

lawyers, wait years for hearings, go before administrative law judges and be

treated like criminals on trial? Too much weight at the initial time of

filing, is put on the independent medical examiner's opinion who only sees

you for a few minutes and has no clue how a patient's medical problems

affect their lives after only a brief visit with them. An even worse

problem is the poor review of cases by DDS caseworkers which causes too many

unjustified delays and denials. Decisions should be based more on the

treating physicians opinions, and medical records. The listing of diseases

that qualify a person for disability should be expanded and updated more

frequently to include newly discovered crippling diseases such as the many

autoimmune disorders that are ravaging our citizens.

We have contributed our hard earned money to this system hoping we would

never need it until we were ready to retire. Where is the money going that

has been robbed from our paychecks every week? Disease and tragedy does not

discriminate based upon age, race, sex or any other factor. The disabled

citizens of this nation have been forced to tackle a very daunting system .

We challenge you to do the same and expose and correct this problem on a

national level. The Social Security Administration, a Federal program,

administered by the states will admit that our elected officials have the

power to reform the system. Why should we have to become homeless,

bankrupt, starve, lose our healthcare coverage, suffer untold stress on top

of our illnesses and even die trying to get our benefits? We the

undersigned say to all members of the US Government:

For everyone of us that starves, becomes homeless or loses our healthcare

during this process - we blame you!

For everyone of us who files for bankruptcy during this process - we blame

you!

For the unfathomable stress and suffering we have inflicted upon us during

this process - we blame you!

For everyone of us who becomes more ill or worse yet dies during this

process - we blame you!

We want to know why our elected officials seem to be ignoring this crisis

and doing nothing to reform it? We want to know what, if anything is being

done to correct this critical issue that affects millions of sick and dying

Americans. Please start taking care of the US citizens living in this

country whom elected you into office. It is your duty as elected officials

to serve all those that voted you into that office and even those of us who

didn't. When the next election comes around we will not forget those who

have forgotten us. The government may be trying to rob millions of

disabled people from their money, and also neglect us, but remember we

millions of citizens still have, and will use our right to vote. A country

is only as strong as the citizens who live in it. On behalf of the Social

Security Disability Coalition we ask, disabled and healthy Americans alike,

that you please do something to fix this serious problem now!

Please sign the Social Security Disability Reform Petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/SSDC/petition.html

Fullerton

President/Co-Founder - Social Security Disability Coalition

ssdcoalition@...

Please join the Social Security Disability Coalition:

http://groups.msn.com/SocialSecurityDisabilityCoalition

" I am disabled and I vote! "