In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.

Romney and disability

mlincolnmlincoln Member Posts: 5,039 ✭✭✭
edited September 2012 in General Discussion
A review of the Romney / Ryan budget says they'll cut disability payments by 40% and severly cut the growth of the program. Also, they'll be reviewing the cases of people, regular folks and military, who've qualified to catch the fakers and people who are getting too much.

I didn't think he had the stones. Good for him.

Comments

  • Cornflk1Cornflk1 Member Posts: 3,715 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yep, completely agree.
  • MossbergboogieMossbergboogie Member Posts: 12,211
    edited November -1
    Says and does are two different things, just ask Obama.

    Congress approves budgets.
  • bpostbpost Member Posts: 32,664 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Romney, being an (R) will simply propose we kill disabled people to save money.
  • TooBigTooBig Member Posts: 28,560 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    What do you think obama care will do and I will take my chances with Romney and I've had enough of change and blame
  • gary wraygary wray Member Posts: 4,663
    edited November -1
    I think every Gov't program needs a top down/bottom up review to wring the crap out of all of them to find the waste and abuse. All of them...not just disability but welfare, food stamps, AFDC, SS, SSD, Medicare, Medicaid, Education, Defense...the entire mess. Billion here, billion there...pretty soon we are talking some real dough. Can start wacking back on unemployment benefits too...two years not to work is about a year and half too long for my liking.
  • fordsixfordsix Member Posts: 8,722
    edited November -1
    if an (R) gets in and the rest of guverment is over 50% (D) it will be another stagnent 4 years
  • spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,724 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    got some here on disability that are in far better shape than me...illegals at grocery with 4-5 different giveme cards...once anyone gets on one of these programs NONE are ever checked...NEVER ..lifetime guarantee..i know only one disability removed was idiot on it who had his pic on front page of local paper over at the lake on a tall ladder rejuving a building on mainstreet
  • Ray BRay B Member Posts: 11,822
    edited November -1
    They're proposing to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. To get the country back on track only three things need to be done. The biggest drain on the government is the War on Drugs. Legalize everything and concede that the war is lost. Eliminate the quotas for immigration so that anyone that applies and qualifies for immigration can do so. and 3. Provide assistance by whatever name you want, to citizens only. If you follow through the changes the country would reap by just those changes, you'll see their wisdom.
  • dreherdreher Member Posts: 8,777 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    With Ryan on the ticket I don't have to hold my nose when I vote for Romney/Ryan. As far as saying that there is no difference...............you're kidding right?? Romney on his worst day is better than Obama on his best day.
  • Rack OpsRack Ops Member Posts: 18,597 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Here's the kicker....

    If you want the VA, Social Security, and Medicare to crack down on disability fraud you'll have to actually increase the personnel budgets for those agencies.

    Fraud investigations are labor and time intensive.
  • Rack OpsRack Ops Member Posts: 18,597 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Btw, this link on his campaign website doesn't suggest Romney has any interest in slowing the growth of VA disability payments...in fact, it complains that claims are taking too long to be approved.

    http://www.mittromney.com/blogs/mitts-view/2012/08/va-disability-claims-backlog-under-obama-administration
  • MossbergboogieMossbergboogie Member Posts: 12,211
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by dreher
    With Ryan on the ticket I don't have to hold my nose when I vote for Romney/Ryan. As far as saying that there is no difference...............you're kidding right?? Romney on his worst day is better than Obama on his best day.


    paul-ryan.jpg
  • Rack OpsRack Ops Member Posts: 18,597 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    http://www.kentucky.com/2012/08/24/2309806/14-in-east-ky-allegedly-defrauded.html

    By Bill Estep - bestep@herald-leader.com

    Fourteen Eastern Kentucky residents defrauded Social Security and Medicaid out of a total of more than $1 million, a federal grand jury has charged.

    Many of the people concealed the fact that they lived with their spouse - making it appear they had less financial support than they actually did - in order to qualify for disability benefits, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Kerry B. Harvey.

    Several of the fraud cases involved the federal Supplemental Security Income program, commonly called SSI.

    The program provides cash payments to elderly or disabled people with little income and few assets.

    In Kentucky, people who qualify for SSI also automatically get Medicaid, a health care program for poor people funded mostly by the federal government.

    The indictments announced Friday alleged that people got assistance from both programs that they weren't eligible to receive.

    For instance, 65-year-old Francis Terry, of McCreary County, allegedly concealed the fact she lived with her husband, Albert, while improperly receiving $82,159 from SSI and $120,792 in Medicaid benefits between September 1997 and April 2012.

    Albert Terry, 70, was indicted with his wife. The two told representatives of the Social Security Administration they'd lived apart for 20 years, when they hadn't, the indictment alleged.

    A grand jury in London charged three couples and eight individuals in 11 separate indictments. The cases were not related.

    It's not unusual for a group of similar cases to be presented to a grand jury at the same time to "maximize resources and impact," a federal spokesman said.

    The alleged fraud described in the indictments took place over long periods in several cases.

    Henrietta Winchester, 65, of McCreary County was charged with illegally getting more than $120,000 in benefits between 1989 and July 2012 by failing to disclose she lived with, and received support from, her husband Denver, 70.

    The two also were charged with lying to federal employees. They allegedly said they had lived apart since 1991, according to the indictment.

    The others charged were Novella Lawson, 60, Whitley County; Earl, 63, and Rebecca Johnson, 60, Whitley County; Lula Lewis, 64, Leslie County; Patty Justice, 60, Pike County; Herman Caldwell, 65, Bell County; Frank Holland, 66, Perry County; Sarah Binder, Laurel County; Sasha DeHart, 25, Pike County; and Alice Cole, 54, Pike County.

    The Johnsons allegedly received more than $73,000 in survivor benefits for a grandchild in their care but used the money for their benefit, not the child's.

    Caldwell was charged with concealing that he had a job while he got $104,888 in federal disability payments between 2003 and 2008.

    Caldwell told a representative of the Social Security Administration he hadn't worked since 1996, and that someone must be using his Social Security number fraudulently, the indictment said.

    The health care fraud and theft charges in the indictments have a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Charges of Social Security fraud and lying carry a top sentence of five years.

    Federal and state authorities announced last September that they had created a cooperative investigations office in Lexington to try to root out fraud in federal disability programs.

    In a news release at the time, authorities said people could report possible fraud by calling (800) 269-0271 or online at http://oig.ssa.gov/report-fraud-waste-or-abuse.

    Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/08/24/2309806/14-in-east-ky-allegedly-defrauded.html#storylink=cpy
  • mlincolnmlincoln Member Posts: 5,039 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My favorite was the guy on this board for many years who detailed how he got $36,000 a year tax free for being disabled. And he regularly posted about getting in fist fights with his neighbors, going out drinking and carousing with friends, regularly going hunting including climbing tree stands and dragging deer out of the woods, etc. I tell you what, those disabled people get more done before breakfast than most of us able-bodied people do all day.
  • dfletcherdfletcher Member Posts: 8,162 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Every able bodied bum who could work but chooses to game the system, and who gets away with it, is taking directly from the people who need it. In San Francisco every single day I see healthy middle aged and young men, women doing nothing. On the dole. They should get nothing from the government.

    I'd be more than happy to take care of all the genuinely sick, needy people - the old, the handicapped, mentally ill or unable to care for themselves - in high style. A decent place to live, fed and cared for if they are truly in need. But if not, they get nothing.

    Funny that people who want to continue handing out money to people who could take care of themselves are considered compassionate and caring. They are not. They contribute to the wheelchair bound vet living on the street, the old woman sleeping in an alley in her own filth by taking from them and giving it to those who could make it on their own. They make it necessary to spread assets thin instead of filling a need.
  • IAMAHUSKERIAMAHUSKER Member Posts: 2,479 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Funny how when you hand out money to folks, how those same folks tend to want you to get reelected. Hmmmmm, maybe that is the point. Get as many people on assistance as you can so, they will tend to not bite the hand that feeds them.
  • spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,724 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    simply set in motion a program for whistleblowers to video the "disabled" and give a cash reward...costs govt nothing but a fraction of the savings
  • nmyersnmyers Member Posts: 16,875 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ryan's plan calls for:
    ---extending the freeze on federal employee pay raises to 5 years
    ---freeze new federal hiring
    ---reducing the federal work force by 10%

    For those of you too young to remember, this was the same strategy implemented by Clinton/Gore.

    So, explain exactly who is going to investigate fraud & abuse in federal programs? The folks who are being asked to work harder for less pay?

    Neal
  • gunnut505gunnut505 Member Posts: 10,290
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by nmyers
    Ryan's plan calls for:
    ---extending the freeze on federal employee pay raises to 5 years
    ---freeze new federal hiring
    ---reducing the federal work force by 10%

    For those of you too young to remember, this was the same strategy implemented by Clinton/Gore.

    So, explain exactly who is going to investigate fraud & abuse in federal programs? The folks who are being asked to work harder for less pay?

    Neal


    Well, after the current POS raised the number of Fed. employees by 25%; what would you do to keep Govt. growth to a minimum?
    The states can weed out the corruption if they incentivize finding and stopping fraud.
  • CDMeadCDMead Member Posts: 2,141 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by bpost
    Romney, being an (R) will simply propose we kill disabled people to save money.


    Yeah, funny how everybody forgets the mass killings proposed by Nixon and then Ford.

    Either you forgot the green font or you should stay in the Politics forum.
  • nmyersnmyers Member Posts: 16,875 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The % of federal employees over the last 30 years has dropped in comparison to the population. With the increases in legal immigration, not to mention illegal immigration, someone has to do the work of CBP, SSA, DOE, DHHS, etc.

    I would, however, reduce the number of federal appointees (currently > 7,000) to, say, 100. And, I would eliminate every federal job with "diversity" or "affirmative action" in the position title. I would make violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, &, specifically, affirmative action, criminal offenses; I would classify such a violation as a "high crime".

    What neither Romney or Ryan understand is that the target for their assault on the federal bureaucracy should be directed against the 8,000,000 federal contractors. With no limit on contracts or salaries, many of these folks are getting rich at taxpayer expense.

    Neal
  • kimberkidkimberkid Member Posts: 8,857 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by bpost
    Romney, being an (R) will simply propose we kill disabled people to save money.
    You mean he'll just keep that part of Obama-care?
    If you really desire something, you'll find a way ?
    ? otherwise, you'll find an excuse.
  • sharpshooter039sharpshooter039 Member Posts: 5,897 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It scares me anytime the Government gets involved between a person and their doctor. Be it Obama care or telling a Doctor that their patient is not as disabled as they think they are. My oldest brother has been disabled for years,to look at him on the outside you would not know it but his insides are a mess. He has chronic crohn's and has had to have 12 feet of intestines removed plus a bad heart,,how many of you internet doctors would be able to look at him or his post and decide he does not need to be on disability. I myself should be on disability , my doctor keeps telling me if I dont quit work and stay off of my feet one of these days I am just going to drop dead but I refuse to quit work, I am just not the type of person to sit at home. To look at me,other than I am over weight you would never know unless you had me pull up my pants so you could see my legs. Point is ,,you cant judge who needs what just by looking,,that is unless your a Doctor or maybe Superman with x-ray vision
  • SpartacusSpartacus Member Posts: 14,415
    edited November -1
    "disability" is the biggest scam in healthcare today.
    I'm just a small town doc, in a town of 1200 and there are 32 of my patients collecting disability, that i can't figure out why!
    these are folks out mowing their yards, hauling stuff in their trucks, offering to do carpentry, plumbing, yard work etc, for a price. And yet, they are disabled and collecting benefits......
    Most of these folks need to be re-certified "disabled" by a doctor every 1-2 years (military is every 5).
    3 months ago I had a certified/licensed electrician do $2500 worth of work at my house.
    2 months ago he came to my office to be rectified for his "total disability". he has been collecting $$ for 6 years because of his low back pain. I could not find a single thing wrong with him except his compliant of pain! I refused to sign his paperwork and then the fight started.
    6 months ago I had an illegal mexican in my clinic with a valid medicaid card. (I posted about this before) He demanded that I certify him disabled because of knee pain. when i ordered X-rays etc to determine his diagnosis, he became belligerent and threatened me and my staff. even tried to climb over the check in window while threatening * harm to my nurse.
    he backed off when i pushed him back out the window with the muzzle of a gun, and told me he was calling his lawyer as he left the clinic.
    WTH???
    get all the deadbeats off disability payments and social security will thrive, and actually be there for the folks that have paid into it all these years!
    sorry for the rant, but it's a subject near to me and one i actually have some inside knowledge of.

    tom
  • nmyersnmyers Member Posts: 16,875 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It's great to hear that story from Tom; I always wondered how many folks are scamming the system. (But, the system is not a scam, it's just not a well run system.)

    I know of one guy who has been on disability for years, & earns good money cutting & selling firewood. Dang, I'm able-bodied & don't think I could cut firewood very long.

    When I worked at Social Security, we had a bunch of doctors who read case folders & ruled on every new case. But, they didn't examine anyone, they just looked for some other doctor's certification that the person was unable to perform SGA (substantial gainful activity). That means, you are unable to work any job, not just the job you were trained for. I guess there must be a bunch of medical whores out there.

    Just about every government program to "help" people has scammers. A big one involves Medicaid durable medical equipment (wheelchairs, walkers, O2 concentrators, etc). Suppliers complained to Congress that they weren't being reimbursed fast enough, so a law was passed requiring the government to send them a check within 48 hours. So, scammers set up phony offices, submit phony bills for a few months, collect millions, then close up & move somewhere else & do the same thing all over again. They rarely get caught. There are only a few investigators, but they will get the same 10% reduction every other fed office will, so things will get worse, not better.

    Neal
  • Rack OpsRack Ops Member Posts: 18,597 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Spartacus

    3 months ago I had a certified/licensed electrician do $2500 worth of work at my house.
    2 months ago he came to my office to be rectified for his "total disability". he has been collecting $$ for 6 years because of his low back pain. I could not find a single thing wrong with him except his compliant of pain! I refused to sign his paperwork and then the fight started.
    6 months ago I had an illegal mexican in my clinic with a valid medicaid card. (I posted about this before) He demanded that I certify him disabled because of knee pain. when i ordered X-rays etc to determine his diagnosis, he became belligerent and threatened me and my staff. even tried to climb over the check in window while threatening * harm to my nurse.


    Once, Americans were known for their culture of fierce independence.

    Now,we're growing a culture of fierce dependency.
  • kimikimi Member Posts: 44,723 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Rack Ops
    Btw, this link on his campaign website doesn't suggest Romney has any interest in slowing the growth of VA disability payments...in fact, it complains that claims are taking too long to be approved.

    http://www.mittromney.com/blogs/mitts-view/2012/08/va-disability-claims-backlog-under-obama-administration


    Romney's a progressive, so I would not expect him to hammer the VA like Reagan did.
    What's next?
  • kimikimi Member Posts: 44,723 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by nmyers
    The % of federal employees over the last 30 years has dropped in comparison to the population. With the increases in legal immigration, not to mention illegal immigration, someone has to do the work of CBP, SSA, DOE, DHHS, etc.

    I would, however, reduce the number of federal appointees (currently > 7,000) to, say, 100. And, I would eliminate every federal job with "diversity" or "affirmative action" in the position title. I would make violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, &, specifically, affirmative action, criminal offenses; I would classify such a violation as a "high crime".

    What neither Romney or Ryan understand is that the target for their assault on the federal bureaucracy should be directed against the 8,000,000 federal contractors. With no limit on contracts or salaries, many of these folks are getting rich at taxpayer expense.

    Neal


    Powerfully good ideas!
    What's next?
  • whiteclouderwhiteclouder Member Posts: 10,574 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by bpost
    Romney, being an (R) will simply propose we kill disabled people to save money.


    Being an (R) I challenge you to tell me what I'd do about anything, on any given day, at any given hour. You CAN NOT even if you asked your mom to help which apparently you'd have to.

    Clouder..
  • mlincolnmlincoln Member Posts: 5,039 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My neighbor is a computer consultant and a couple years ago did a lot of work for the West VA state government and federal government on getting federal and state welfare payment systems streamlined and integrated.

    He said, and he was just a guy there to work on software and terminals and harddrives and stuff like that, that he was astounded at the amount of obvious bold-faced fraud even a glance at the data revealed. At first he and the other computer people brought it to the government people's attention, and they said all the right things and said they'd check things out and so forth, but after a point everybody just realized there was a "this is just the way it is" attitude and so they just focused on getting their work done. He estimated that 15-25% of the money going out was to suspicious claims.

    His favorite, though, was the doctor who billed for three different operations for the same woman: amputating her left leg at the hip. Three different dates a month apart, same exact paperwork, and he got three nice government checks for it.

    I have read that 1 out of every 4 people in West Virginia are on welfare. That's simply astounding.
  • bigoutsidebigoutside Member Posts: 19,443
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by whiteclouder
    quote:Originally posted by bpost
    Romney, being an (R) will simply propose we kill disabled people to save money.


    Being an (R) I challenge you to tell me what I'd do about anything, on any given day, at any given hour. You CAN NOT even if you asked your mom to help which apparently you'd have to.

    Clouder..


    How do you know BPOST's mom?
  • jjmitchell60jjmitchell60 Member Posts: 3,887
    edited November -1
    I worked up until a Pitiza delivery driver rear ended me at a stop light as he was doing 45, I stopped on My HD FLHT, and it crushed 2 vertabra in my spine. I had to learn to walk again after the swelling went down, 3 months unable to move my legs at all and another year learning to walk. I draw a whopping $1100< a month. Out of that I poay a $600 mortage, electric bill, and other utilities. I ONLY qualify for VA medical benefits with having to pay a portion, wife works for state. I do what I can BUT do not work for money because I cannot work and know it due to pain as well as other problems. Now with hat said I had to fight to get my SSA disability, had reputable doctors stating I was/am disabled, have had reviews with current MRIs that prove the damage is perment and is causing a worsening of my spine. With the above said I know of MANY here who draw disability for being obese, depressed, alcoholic, drug addict, and any number of nonsence reasons. They all got their disability without an appeal or have no reviews. I know of one who never worked a day in his life who draws SSi, medicaid, medicare, foodstamps, and other entitlements as does his wife who never has worked a day in her life. Now this person draws on a bad knew YET he makes over $2000 a month in knife sells from his custom home made knives which are as good as any made by anyone, he junks out scrap mtal, walks miles to hunt on WMAs where no vehicles are allowed, owns nice new cars/trucks, owns several ATVs, MANy firearms, and truth be known between what his wife draws, what he draws, and what he makes on the side is bringing in a good $6000 a MONTH. Now $6000 here is a hel of a good living BUT this couple file NO tax returns being the only income claimed is what the draw in SSI each!!!

    So yes as a disabled person drawing SSA disability WHICH I paid in on many years, the system does need an over haul especially in fraud. Now the fraud is not confined to those drawing BUT some doctors as well. The doctors the man and wife I used as an example above was paid $5000 each person to sign off on their disability.
    Now it was stated you need more imspecters to catch teh fraud however the couple above have been turned in and yet have NEVER been checked out at all so what are the SSA fraud disability imspecters on the USA work force rolls doing now?

    I will bank on Romney and Ryan because if Obummer gets another 4 years you will find a 100% increase of the disability rolls and no jobs thus no one paying into SSA at all. Any fix is beter than what the Demotards have NOT done even though they were in control of both the house and senate as well as the White House for 2 full years! All they passed was a health care bill that is a TAX and was too big to read. As Pelosi stated, "we have to pass it so as to see what is in it..."; WTH kind of fix is that!

    Romney and Ryan is your ONLY chance at keeping the USA alive, PERIOD.
  • stegsteg Member Posts: 871 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    To add fuel to the fire: I live in the East Village neighborhood of NYC. I know of at least 5 radical "lefties", Workers of the world arise types that absolutely dispise our country, and are quite vocal about it. They are attendees of every radical demonstration in recent NYC history, including several riots in which police have been hurt. Apart from their political and social views, the thing all of them have in common, is that they all are on SSI disability and get foodstamps and NY State housing benefits. None of them has had a job in recent memory, and one in particular is quite proud that he grew up in a family that was on the dole. He has never worked a day in his life, and has some local noteriety in that when he was removed from the welfare rolls a few years ago, he sued and won! He is listed as a mental case, but is as cogent as anyone of us.
    Being that he knows he is a fraud, no wonder he has contempt for our country.....and is quite proud of the fact that he hates our military forces as well as the police.
    What a wonderful country we have become!
Sign In or Register to comment.