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:
- Provide a fast track back to SSI/disability benefits in the event of loss of employment.
- 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 reevalute the current SSI system and rules to see if the desired outcomes are being met.