Provide a safety net for disability recipients to work

Liberty Justice
1

Under our current system, having a permanent disability and receiving government benefits becomes a life sentence to poverty with no hope of finding real employment or building assets or a future like everybody else can. Most people just give up trying at all under the current system.

I propose:

  1. Provide a fast track back to SSI/disability benefits in the event of loss of employment.
  2. Increase the amount of assets a person on disability is allowed to an amount that reflects today’s cost of living.

My son has been disabled since birth. As an adult he went on SSI disability, which provides $941 per month plus medical benefits (hardly enough to live on in today’s economy). He is not allowed to have assets over $2000 or he will lose his disability. If he were able to secure employment, it would disqualify him from benefits and would then take years to get back on disability if he were ever to lose his job.

Most of these restrictions are in place to prevent fraud, or prove need, but at what cost?

The majority of disabled people are absolutely not trying to defraud the government. The majority of disabled people would much rather be working, taking pride in having purpose and having an incentive to earn a paycheck, save money, purchase a home, car, vacation or retirement, etc… but they can’t do this for fear of penalty.

We know how difficult it can be to find a job that is a good fit for somebody with disabilities, so it is a shame that people fail to accept such opportunities knowing that there is no safety net in place if it should ever end.

These are vulnerable people who cannot survive on their own if they lose their source of employment-based income and medical coverage. Providing a clear and fast path back to that assistance in the event they need it should be common-sense.

People who have permanent disabilities, such as down syndrome, etc should have the option to fast track back onto disability benefits if the employment should end for any reason. If this were the case, I believe that many of these people would in fact seek employment, which contributes to the economy and saves taxpayer money they would have been using sitting on disability.

Many of these people are in fact working as “volunteers” in order to remain productive without risking the loss of their benefits. Many are being shuffled from one part time (10 hrs/week) job to another through various job placement agencies that have adopted such tactics to avoid the loss of disability benefits due to income. This illustrates that many are in fact capable of finding things they can do, it is just more of a challenge and often limited to specific tasks or working environments.

Offering people the option to accept employment and accrue assets would be a win-win for the people, the taxpayers, and be the right thing to do. Without this safety net, they are resigned to a life of government handouts in the form of SSI, medical, and subsidized housing or complete dependency on family caregivers.

At the very least, the government should reevaluate the current SSI system and rules to see if the desired outcomes are being met.

6 Likes
2

Everybody on SSI is getting ripped off because they’re using the wrong data to calculate SSI, Congress should be required to fix it. Take a look at this video,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSIiZbk7wq8 below.

3

I agree completely. My husband is on SSI because of his heart condition. I have a job but I can’t work as much as I need to because of the household income limit. I have had to turn down two raises at work just so we can stay within the required household income limit or we will not be able to afford his medications.

4

I am on SSDI and have been on it since 2018. I keep hearing about peoples benefits being discontinued for no reason. This scares me. Personally, i cant work at all…not even volunteer but this is a constant fear for me. The system is definitely flawed in a lot of ways.

5

There are obviously many people who cannot work at all, and for most on disability this is the case or was true for a time. This is what disability benefits is designed for. There are also many people who have permanent disabilities, and genuinely cannot work in most traditional employment options, but still may find that rare opportunities to work in the right circumstances.

For example, near my home there is a family owned donut shop where they hired a woman with intellectual disabilities. The owner is extremely patient and accommodating and has created a way for her to work there. If this business were ever to close or have to cut staff, it is unlikely she would find another job, or it could take years.

Reforming SSI to allow for situations like this would make a way for people who are currently resigned to a life of SSI to hope and seek ways to better themselves and their lives without fear.

6

Thank you for posting this link. It is obvious to most people that current SSI benefits are not even close to enough to cover the minimum essentials. $940 will not even cover rent in today’s market. While the system was set up with good intentions, all systems need to be periodically reviewed and adjusted to better suit reality and this is long overdue.

The goal of the incoming administration is smaller government and saving money, not spending more. For this reason, I can see why many people would object to the idea of increasing any kind of benefits. However, I personally believe if this was done in conjunction with other measures, such as the safety net to work option, and asset building allowance, we would still save taxpayer money over time.

Previous efforts to encourage employment for disabled people ended up wasting more money because they just create more programs, agencies, and departments to scrutize the reasonable accommodation efforts of employers, force job training programs, etc. None of this money actually goes to disabled people. It all goes to agencies, admin costs, etc. If studies were done to determine how many disabled people actually got off benefits due to these programs I think they would find the cost/benefit is not justified.

Programs that are simple to implement and require little overhead (such as tax credits for employers that hire people on disability), are the right direction and should not be stopped.

Sometimes a common sense approach is best and less is more. We could eliminate many of the current programs that aid disabled people (but do not show results) and transfer those funds into increasing the monthly benefit for the actual recipients. Let them decide how they would like to spend that money. At the same time, stop penalizing people who find ways to work or create assets.

We need to remember that we are talking about people who are permanently disabled through no fault of their own. People who were born with IDD or down syndrome or suffered a serious injury or illness later in life. Why would we want to threaten and punish them for trying to find creative ways to decrease reliance on government by working or accruing assets in the times they are able to?

7

To simplify my previous post, I would propose:

  • Provide a fast track back to SSI/disability benefits in the event of loss of employment to encourage those who may be able to find suitable work.

  • Increase the amount of assets a person on disability is allowed to an amount that reflects today’s cost of living. This helps create a safety net that so that disabled persons can decrease reliance on government assistance in the future.

  • Evaluate and eliminate all government funded programs (not SSI) which were created to aid disabled people, but have failed to show desired results.

  • Consider transferring the funds spent on such eliminated programs into increasing SSI to accurately reflect today’s cost of living. If not SSI, consider transferring funds into a fund where the money goes directly to disabled persons (not admin cost or newly created agencies) to aid in practical needs, such as a housing subsidy or other practical need.

  • Require people to apply for this rather than just send it to everybody. Not everyone will need it. This will save government money.

  • Separate agencies or funding sources for addiction / mental-health related disability from those that serve congenital or physical causes. The needs for these groups are very different because people who are born with disabilities such as down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, etc will always be disabled. People who have been paralyzed or have brain injury due to an injury will always be disabled. People with addiction and mental health issues are potentially treatable and require access to different services.

I feel that policies such as this would save government money in the long term, while increasing the liberty and personal autonomy for disabled people, which increases the overall health of our communities.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to this issue because people and circumstances are unique. For adults with disabilities who live with family, the needs are very different from those in adult family homes or their own residences. People with physical disabilies have limitations that are very different from those with intellectual disabilities. This is why we need to create policy that allows for autonomy and flexibility… so that individuals and families can utilize their resources to maximum potential.