NPR wrote a very interesting article titled Unfit For Work. I'd encourage you to read the whole article. The gist of it is simply : The number of people on disability has risen steadily over the past 30 years. This isn't a unique phenomenon related to the recent recession.
The article says:
"The federal government spends more money each year on cash payments for
disabled former workers than it spends on food stamps and welfare
combined."
Did you realize that? I didn't.
Then theres this bit about how some people get on disability:
"Dr. Timberlake is making a judgment call that if you have a particular
back problem and a college degree you're not disabled. Without the
degree, you are."
This actually makes sense to me. I myself have a back problem. I work a 'cushy' office job where I sit at a desk the vast majority of the time. Yet if I stand for too long my back and leg will start to ache. If I didn't have a college education it would likely be pretty difficult for me to do a lot of blue collar jobs that require 8 hours of standing or repetitive work. Reportedly
80% of adults have back pains at some point in their lives and its
probably no coincidence that the #1 reason for disability is back pain.
The article shows various charts over time that show relationships between the number of people applying for disability to spikes in unemployment and the comparison of the people on welfare to the people on disability. It seems fairly clear that disability is replacing welfare for many Americans.
A pretty obvious connection between welfare and federal disability is evidenced by this bit :
"PCG [Public Consulting Group] is a private company that states pay to comb their welfare rolls and move as many people as possible onto disability."
You read that right. A private company is paid by the states to get people off of welfare and onto federal disability. They say that Missouri pays the company $2300 per person. The company facilitates individuals getting on disability and they have this quote from one of their agents talking to a welfare recipient:
"Can you think of anything else that's been bothering you and disabling you and preventing you from working?"
This makes twisted sense. If an individual is on welfare then the state has to pay money, but if the individual instead gets on disability then the state saves money. Individual states have financial incentive to get their welfare recipients on federal disability. Its clear enough if they're paying a private company $2300 per head to get that accomplished.
I don't know what portion of people on disability are severely disabled and what portion have less severe disabilities. I also don't know hat portion of the people receiving disability are actually cheating the system. But even if there isn't outright fraud the system is setup so that if you work in a blue collar job and get unemployed that you may end up on disability due to back pains whereas if you kept your job you'd likely continue to work. Or if you get on welfare you may get 'helpfully guided' on to disability by the state and their private consultant.
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