Social Security disability on verge of insolvency

Post Reply New Topic

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... lity_n.htm

What will you do when they stop sending the checks?

Don't know about you but i work for a living.

For those who have other retirement income, they will survive. Else there is always hitting up the relatives for help, going to the streets to beg or taking up a life of crime. Think of Breaking Bad but with a walker.

ruveyn

I, for one, expect to work until i am physically unable, and then probably just die.

So that the leisure class can play a few more rounds of golf.

Seriously, I knew that social security was insolvent for quite a while.

To me the only news here is that someone within the left-wing media is actually admitting it.

Don't be petulant. It is not dignified.

ruveyn

This is SS disability having a problem in 2017, not SS retirement funds.

The only person I know on disability in real life is a teabagger on disability for "pain". He's happy to lecture you about the evil of socialism when he's not spraining his hand cashing checks. Though I believe he is disabled through a separate program for federal employees.

if it weren't for being a congenital cheapskate, i'd probably be livin' under a bridge someplace. but even cheapskatehood won't help if our economy gets lassoed and hogtied and cut up for steaks. in tough times [aside from being rich] there is just no substitute for having 1] a necessary and renumerative talent/skill, and 2] the ability to get other people to see things your way. maybe it is unavoidable that SS benefits become means-tested and/or limited to people beneath some sliding income threshold. maybe if it were renamed "poverty avoidance insurance" the concept would be more clear.

SS cannot be means tested retroactively. Anyone who purchased SS as insurance is entitled to the benefits he paid for under the terms agreed upon regardless of one's income. Means testing can only apply to new sign-ups.

ruveyn

Except that this is a government program, and the government can do as it pleases.

I believe we already have a thread on this, right?

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt172187.html

Doesn't SSDI come from the same pot as social security retirement?

IIRC, no.

SS benefits are SUPPOSED TO be in a trust fund...they are not, but at the very least spending for it is allocated in one category. You are entitled to SS benefits if you have paid into it sufficiently in your life. The bar is not set very high, but what you get back (monthly) is dependent on how much you paid in during your 10 highest earning years in your life (you had to be paying into the system during those 10 years). As they always take X in taxes from your paycheck to put into the program, you are entitled to benefits when you reach the eligible age for receiving benefits.

SSDI is a welfare program. Nobody is entitled to it without proving they NEED it. I suppose spending for it can be expanded or contracted, and while you technically do pay into it, it's like saying you're owed X in health care benefits because you bought a health insurance policy. Insurance policies have qualifiers on when you become eligible for benefits. Just having paid for a policy does not mean EVERY medical need must be paid by the insurance policy. While not currently so, normally an insurance policy premium doesn't come close to the cost of medical benefits you could receive. That's because when and if they pay is set on qualifying conditions, not just the need. Otherwise your monthly premiums would be insane because every time you want to see a doctor, they pay the bill, and they would average the national cost of all health care services to everyone. This is a likely reason why Obamacare has resulted in private health insurance premiums going up by over 50% in 2 years....the law mandates they pay for more, and they are passing that cost to everyone who holds a policy.

More so, IIRC, if you are on SSDI, you CAN NOT get SS benefits...or you must relinquish one to get the other. SSDI gets Medicaid. SS benefit recipients receive Medicare. IIRC, SSDI and Medicaid covers more than people on SS get.

It isn't exactly a "welfare" program. It is more of a disability insurance program. Like Social Security, you have to have paid into it a certain number of years, and the pay-out is based on how much you contributed in social security taxes.

The program isn't based on proving that you NEED the money. You could win the lottery, and still be eligible for SSDI. You just have to prove that you are no longer able to hold a job, because of a disability.


People on SSDI do get Medicare after two years of having been on SSDI.


Once a SSDI recipient reaches retirement age, his pay switches from SSDI to SS retirement, and remains the same.


No. Medicaid is based on need. SSDI isn't.


So do SSDI recipients, after 2 years.


Not really.

Here is a brief overview of the program

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Sec ... _Insurance

So, SSDI is funded from the same source as Social Security retirement.

Here is the original CBO report

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/116xx/doc116 ... _Brief.pdf

The Disability Insurance Trust Fund is funded by a 1.8% payroll tax. I remember paying that, back in my "working" days, and I thought that it was going to fund Medicare.