Monday, June 13, 2011

Screwed by My Government Again

I need a lawyer. I just got the letter today....Social Security disability was denied to me...my last and only hope of surviving this ongoing nightmare.

I suppose being 55 years old with a GED who has atrophy after being out of work for 3 years, and who has degenerative arthritis in both the neck and lower spine (and stress and depression for the most obvious reasons) doesn't qualify as "disabled" because the Social Security administration says the "severity" of my disabilities doesn't preclude me from doing "substantial" work, meaning it can be part-time work earning at least $900 a month.

They also say my condition shouldn't last for more than 12 months, even though it's gotten worse over the last several years. My back can't get any better (it can only be made to feel better with 2 prescriptions I'm now taking). But my condition can only remain the same or get worse from putting more strain on it. There's no cure for arthritis.

They say that I'm skilled enough and healthy enough to work 20 hours a week for $10.00/hr gross (or at McDonald's who pays about $8.50/hr X 24 hours a week = $900 gross). After taxes, that's how much, $700 a month for rent, heat, bus fare, and food? They say I'm in good enough shape to stand at a McDonald's window 4 or 5 hours a day and earn enough to live on?

I'm 7 years away from qualifying for an early SS retirement with reduced benefits. I'm only qualified for the service and hospitality industry (which is not hiring in Las Vegas anyway), and it's the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. I no longer have a car or any cash in the bank, and I can barely get out of bed in the morning, and yet they say I'm perfectly ok to work. Well, maybe I can do a congressman's job but that's about it. Name one boss who will hire me.

My doctor said some people with a much worse case of arthritis than I have are denied SS disability and some people with a far less severe case are approved SS benefits. So it's more like a pot-luck lottery getting qualified for disability benefits. In Nevada where I live I have read that the odds were good for first-time approvals (a 50-50 chance), so it's just my fu*ked up luck that I fell on the wrong side of the fence. When will something in my damn life ever go right?

This country and our whole system of government is totally screwed up. I busted my back for almost 40 years and when I finally needed help I'm told that everything is perfectly ok, that I should just go get a job and go about my business. RIGHT!

I really wish I had a "nuke" right about now. Before, I was ready to take myself out, but now I'm so damned pissed at this government that I'd like to take out a few @ssholes with me!

All this time going to appointments, making calls, filling out forms, etc...and all the damn waiting, hoping to finally get some kind of good news for a change, but all I ever get in another damn knife in my back. It really gets old after a while.

Now I have to go through more months of appealing their decision by filling out more papers, getting a lawyer, making phone calls, and more waiting, etc....hoping to win an appeal. I'm so frustrated and depressed and at my wits end that I might just have to resort to "PLAN A" again. This really sucks big time!!!

But HEY!!!!!!!!! Let's send a few more billion to the middle east, let's build some more aircraft carriers, let's bail out a few more banks and corporations, let's give oil subsidies away, let's give congress a raise, let's save a desert turtle....ANYTHING but give Bud his itty-bitty disability check!!!!

.......................................STOP.........................END OF RANT.......................END TRANSMISSION

7 comments:

  1. No car, no money, no job, no hope. Never take away someone's hope, it might be all they have. Now the government has taken that too. Welcome to the American Dream.

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  2. Hi Bud:

    Please post this to http://www.reddit.com. I'm serious. They can help get the word out. They often succeed in publicizing cases where people have been treated unfairly.

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  3. Also, know that MOST people are denied the first time they apply. Each time you appeal, your chances get better and better. If nothing else, keep appealing to fight the good fight and stick it to the man. Seriously. Don't let them do this to you without a fight. Don't just roll over. That's what they want you to do. Do NOT give up!!!!

    If you really feel bad:
    http://suicidehotlines.com/
    1-800-784-2433
    1-800-273-8255

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  4. Definitely call the Legal Services Corporation: http://www.lsc.gov/

    They are an umbrella group for lots and lots of legal-counseling non-profits nation-wide. They should be able to direct you to a free legal counseling service in your area, or, even better, quite possibly a specialist in this sort of thing.

    Even if all you need is a second application, it can be very helpful to have someone walk you through the process and maybe even give some tips and tricks for getting the most out of SSI. The web of bureaucracy surrounding it can be extremely complex and it's always best to get help from (free!) experts.

    And,
    advocacyforpatients.org is a not-for-profit group created expressly to help folks figure out how to navigate the ssdi maze. They're awesome.

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  5. Hey, Bud
    I am sorry about your SSD...I am going through the same as you with not much hope but I agree with Anonymous....dont give up yet...that's what they want and I refuse! I am just plain p'od!! to anonymous, thank you for the info I will be calling tomarrow...everyone have a good night! Susan

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  6. Mr. Meyers; I feel your anguish, I too was denied SSD at first. And as I have learned everybody (except disabled Vets) are denied their first time. It is as if this system was established by "lawyers" you know "Of the lawyers, by the lawyers and for the lawyers".
    There is not one thing in this country today that does not get done with out a lawyer getting involved.
    I just had to give up on trying to get some justice for my family. My own village abandon an old sewer ling because it was collecting too much ground water and over working their treatment plant. Now that old line is diverting all that ground water to bubble up from under my foundation.
    I have tried every ave. you can think of to get this village to fix this problem, even the courts, but my pockets are not as deep as the Ins Co. for my Village. Even though I can prove how and what the village did (9 hr. of video tape) the Ins. Co. can keep submitting Third, Forth, Fifth, etc party complaints. Literally dragging this out for ever, and this kind of case does not allow for any more $$$ than the damages of the house. So now I get to watch my home of 37 years slowly sink and fall apart.
    You can see all kinds of pictures on my Facebook page Donald Beaney, everybody is invited.
    But back to your denial of SSD, first write a letter to your State Senator, and try the SS web page where you can find out how to file an appeal, if that don't work than you will have to get a lawyer.

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  7. Had my second denial last month. Got a lawyer and waiting for a hearing date before a judge. It's been almost a year now.

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