I know of a lady that had all 3 of her kids deemed "disabled" with ADHD, and used all three of those SSI checks for gambling. Too many use it as yet another tool to sit on their arses all day, and collect bennies. That money should be used toward medical expenses, and be set in an account that can only be drawn on to pay medical expenses. They should actually require receipts as proof that the funds are going to where they are supposed to be allocated.

Carmen they DO I have to account once a year for every PENNY used that I get from SSI and believe it or not Utilities , Phone, Car transportation and RENT Is all factored in my son pays 1/3 of everything but guess what HE GETS MY HOUSE that is how it is done they DO account for every dime you spend and you have to prove it.....I have to account for his food and Rent car maintence because I drive over 86 miles to get him to 1 of his doctors EVERY MONTH can you please tell me how I would get there using his Medicaid card to buy gas???????

Rockband

Your right. I know of multiple people who have their kids labeled in order to get them on SSI. They go from doctor to doctor until they find one that goes along with the label.

Sadly, Those who have real health problems are declined help as there is an unofficial limit(Quota) to how many are excepted in a certain time frame along with a priority list.

Am also aware of people who quit jobs because they were about to become self sufficient & be disqualified for SSI funds.

I'm also aware of people who draw regular disability who are able to be self sufficient & employed but would rather stay home & complain they don't get enough benefits to maintain a higher life style. These programs were meant for those truly in need.

It's sad that a program that has great intentions has been badly abused. I don't have stats to prove it, but personal observations would indicate half of those on these programs shouldn't be. I'm also aware of some people who need help & don't get it.

It's to bad our Government can't just freeze all programs adjusting for inflation for the next 10 years and focus on analyzing every program & fixing or eliminating or replacing those that don't work.

The benefits of freezing to the rate of inflation would drastically reduce future spending projections per GDP thus less national debt. Of coarse all Government agencies would spin this as budget cuts. If you realize all agencies expect 3% to 5% increases or more above the inflation rate every year.

I've personally seen Agencies buy or replace equipment not needed & give extra raises to employees in order to use their entire budgets up before the next fiscal Budget proposal. It's the way Government works. It Rewards waste. If you run short you get more. If your frugal & responsible & have extra left over in your budget it will be reduced the next year.

Seen this. University Department started the year with all new computers & Software. At the end of the year they replaced them all again in order to use up their budget. Ever wonder why with 2% inflation rates University Tuition rates go up 8 to 10% a year & this was before the economy crapped out & States cut back on funding increases. This applies to all Government agencies & our Medical system as well.

What most people don't realize about Government. If you increase spending in 1 agency, you have to give an equal increase to all agencies in order for them not to claim their budget was cut. AND they will find a way to spend it so they can justify next years increase.

Rockband Junkie

I know of a lady that had all 3 of her kids deemed "disabled" with ADHD, and used all three of those SSI checks for gambling. Too many use it as yet another tool to sit on their arses all day, and collect bennies. That money should be used toward medical expenses, and be set in an account that can only be drawn on to pay medical expenses. They should actually require receipts as proof that the funds are going to where they are supposed to be allocated.

Bull@!$%#. You're a liar. But, even if you were telling the truth, your personal experience would not constitute a reasonable example of the SSI program.

@YouJustSaidWhat:

I know of several free loafing people that have done the exact same thing with their SSI money, including a family member.
My cousin's daughter has asthma. Her and her husband choose to smoke in their home, in their car, wherever they are so the daughter is in the hospital every two or so weeks due to "complications from an asthma attach". They deny smoking while visiting doctors, and always make a huge deal out of her being admitted. Because one hospital & doctor busted them smoking at the hospital, when they denied it like mad, the doctor refused to treat their doctor until they made the choice to make her a priority and quit putting her life at risk because of their habit. They've been to three leading children's hospitals that deals with pulmonary issues and each time were told that if they would quit smoking anywhere near her that she MIGHT have to be seen in the ER once a year during the winter.

She has used the daughter's SSI money to buy cigs for her, pay for vacations, pageant fees for a third daughter, and other misc things. Her husband's insurance covered 70% of all med costs and medicaid pays for the 30. She's not in a special school. They live in a run down trailer house that her parents own, land and all, so no rent is paid. Their utilities are less than $100 a month TOTAL. He makes quite a load of money ($70,000+ a year). She's been reported several times but it doesn't matter apparently.
Yes, there are certain people who fully deserve to receive SSI but so many people take advantage of just how easy it is to get it. Then comes the factor of "hmmmm, I get more benefits if I don't have a job so why ever get out of the system". Those are the people who don't deserve assistance because they're robbing those that need but can't get it due to lack of funding. Those people who choose to medicate their children simply out of convenience and the unwillingness to spend time with them creatively so that they're little zombies make me sick to my stomach.
So, please YJSW, explain to me how Rockband Junkie is wrong? His is perfectly acceptable example of how lazy ass parents spend their SSI money.

PS. Working in the HHS for nearly 20 years, I see it each and very day!!

Well, mamj, if you have proof they are smoking around an asthmatic kid, you should turn them in again, not because of the SSI cheating, but because they could kill their daughter if they smoke around her. Seriously, it could be the difference between life and death for this child. You seem much more concerned about the money, but the real tragedy here is not money, it's that this kid can't breathe. Get your priorities straight. Stop whining about SSI benefits and focus on the child abuse. Turn your cousin into Child Protective Services pronto.

Yes, DRK, my thoughts exactly. Don't turn them in to SSI. Turn them in to CPS.

SSI can be used for simple costs of living. Medicare covers some medical expenses but if you're sick and cannot work then obviously you don't have the income to pay rent and buy food. When I applied for SSI they specifically told me that I could use that money for quality of life. I asked about it because I would feel so guilty if i was spending that money that I am SO grateful for inappropriately. If I didn't have SSI i would be homeless and hungry. I am 26 though, so the rules for children should be different.

Also, I personally think if the government implemented a drug testing policy for people receiving SSI it would decrease the number of people exploiting the system dramatically.

One again, the republicans show what they are made of. They want to address the budget deficit by cutting benefits that are desperately needed by disabled children. This they have no problem with.

On the other hand, they squeal in protest at the mere mention of the possibility of asking billionaires to pay more in taxes.

What can be said about people with such priorities except that they are evil?

I know a woman who ended up having a child with a disability because she did drugs and did not seek pre-natal care. He is now 14, goes to school, and is fairly high functioning. She has 2 other healthy children but instead of working at least while her kids are in school, she chooses to live off of SSI and Welfare. She uses a big chunk of this money to support her continued drug habit. Yes, I have called CPS on her but nothing ever gets done. She was leaving dirty diapers all over the place, her ashtrays were overflowing, and there was not a clean dish or item of clothing in the house. She cleaned the house and got her kids back and then went back to doing the same thing. I know she needs the money for his medical treatments, but there is no reason she can't get a job to support her healthy children.

It makes me sick to see people who need the help get turned away when losers like her continue to take advantage of it.

Ashleyadams asked "can you please tell me how I would get there using his Medicaid card to buy gas?"

How about this...Medicaid isn't supposed to be used for gas. I'd suggest getting a job and paying for gas the old fashion way like the rest of us have to do, with hard earned cash.

As an employee of a pedicatric office (10+ years in pedictrics) and as a mother of a child with both asthma and significant mental health issues, I feel quite qualified to post on this subject.

Day after day I encounter the endless stream of paperwork coming into my office from parents trying their hardest to get their children labeled "disabled" into order to receive benefits. Asthma, allergies, headaches, etc are not grounds for disability!

There are some families that truly need disability benefits but not the majority of those receiving them. I can't even tell you the number of times we receive ridiculous requests from the utility companies because the families of "so-called" disabled children haven't paid their utilities and they expect and demand the physicians write that discontinuing the utility service would jeopardize their childrens' lives. Thankfully, the doctors I work for have morals and refuse to sign these requests unless there would actually be a life threatening situation without electricity, oil or gas service.

A child with ADHD will not be in a life threatening situation if his power is disconnected! A child on a ventilator would.

When my daughter first demonstrated mental health issues, my private health insurance refused inpatient care for her. Certainly I appealed their decision but in the end, my husband and I are responsible for her care. We sought care for her and paid for it ourselves. $45,000 for 4 weeks of care is hard to swallow, this doesn't include the years of counseling we've paid for both in full and in part. We had to make scarifices, cut out the "extras" in our budget and we made payments, but we did it. It may have been easier to have her labeled disabled, to forefit our paternal responsibily and have the government pick up the tab but that's not the kind of people we are. My daughter is better now but still struggles and probably will for her entire life. At least she's been shown how to be self sufficient, how to have integrity and to be responsible.

I won't even go into the lack of reimbursement the Medicaid system provides to medical offices. It almost costs my office money to see Medicaid patients. Most of the specialists in our area are no longer accepting Medicaid because of the low reimbursement amounts. Universal Health Care is DEFINITELY not the answer. I, for one, want to feel like the doctors treating my family have an incentive to provide good care and the most useful incentive is high salaries. Take away the above average salaries and you'll lose the best and brightest of medical providers.

No, even the health care provided does not cover all treatment.

And SSI (Supplemental Security Income) is not Social Security or SSD (part of the insurance program)

SSI is a welfare program for the sick. The Social Security Administration is used to cut and issue the checks but it is not part of Social Security. Each state determines how much it will pay in SSI benefits and the amount differs from state to state.

SSI is for the sick, the sick who can't work and those who became disabled before they had an opportunity to pay into the Social Security program. Often people have had a low work history because they sick but was never officially diagnosed.

I once worked for an attorney who handled Social Security and SSI claims. You would not believe the number of immigrants who get SSI, and I'm talking people who have never paid a cent into the system. Here's how they do it: one immigrates here legally and then gets their family to join them here. Most of these family members--ranging in age from teens to elderly--won't learn English, have no marketable skills, and claim a "mental disability," such as being afraid of riding in an elevator. Voila, Uncle Sam sends them a check every month for the rest of their lives. That's our tax dollars...money we've paid out of every paycheck so it will be there if we become disabled or when we retire. Yes, Social Security and SSI are in trouble, and it's because of situations like this and giving it to children who have never (and probably will never) pay into the system.

I am disgusted by the unfairness of the system. I just got off the phone with my 67 year old mother. She has had 5 surgeries for herniated discs, knee replacement, torn rotator cuff surgery, needs the other knee replaced, has arthritis and numbness and can't sleep through the night because of the pain in her shoulder, yet she works full time (in pain) as a nurse because she cannot afford to retire. Oh, I forgot to mention her overwhelming exhaustion and the fact that she's fainted twice at work, but the cardiologists can't determine why.

Yet she was turned down for disability! She should have been on disability 20 years ago! Pain meds and muscle relaxants are what get her through the night. SSDI determined that her surgeries "healed" her back up to only 25% disabled. But they view each injury and each surgery separately! By that moronic 25% bit you could even call her 200% disabled. SHE is someone who could have used a better social security attorney. But the fact is that the SYSTEM needs to be revamped. People who don't deserve to be receiving this benefit should be kicked off, and people who deserve it should begin receiving the benefit immediately, not after having applied and turned down three times.

My apologies for commenting on comments, not strictly the topic of the article. I agree that largely the issue of treatment for children with any form of disability is the availability of healthcare.

You are a rockstar parent cdme and should be applauded!!! My hat goes off to you and your children as they will learn to be self sufficient and to make the best of their situations and not rely on someone else to take care of them.

My mother was a nationally recognized special ed teacher for nearly 40 years and would educate her parents on the benefits, when fitting, about way to occupy and love their children without medicating and "zombifying" them as she would put it. At her funeral last year, several parents spoke at her memorial and said that not only did she see every child as a gift from above, no matter what shape they came in, and should be treated as a gift but also that she had all helped them find way to non medicate their children through THEM making adaptations not forcing the child to adapt to our wants and needs.
From one non-medicating family to another, you're one that several other parents could take a page from!!

((hugs)) to you and your boys!!! You are an amazing parent!!

@rockband junkie. Wow, your son has to pay his OWN RENT!!!! I raised my children and I paid all the rent. They were children, I didn't expect them to pay to have the priviledge of being raised. I have yet to meet someone who uses the SSI the way it was meant to. We just went to court and took my stepsons SSI payments away from his mother because she's a crackhead and irresponsible. Guess what? Now she doesn't want him. Losers, one and all.

@rockband junkie....so so sorry. Above post not ment for you... should be for ashleyaddams. can't fix it.

cdme you are the kind of person who should be a parent! Thank you for the life lessons you are teaching your children. One day, you will be rewarded for every tear and hard moment. Kudos to you!

Good post.

Just as you are too sick to maintain full time employment, so too are people on SSI.

You obviously worked long enought to meet the conditions to obtain SS benefits under the clause.

But others have been too sick already to have achieved it. There are those who would and do argue that if you can work part time you can work full time and you're just lazy. But you and I know differently.

Medicaid is not comprehensive healthcare those it does provide more than medicare. Most of the treatments required for children with disabilities are not covered by insurance whether it's medicaid or paid insurance by the middle classes.

Part of the problem sick people have in this country is that undereducated people don't understand that we're not talking about colds. We're talking about illness' that restrict people's function and most are unseen to the eye.

Conservative republicans / tea party are not about to take S.S. disability payments or reduce payment to truly needy people as you seem to be. The Liberal Democrats expand these type programs to fraudulent poor lazy folks that POISON the efforts to reform the programs !!!!We taxpayers want truly needy people ONLY to get our help !!!!!

@Carmen, I have a certificate that says I am SMI (serious mentally ill) which qualifies me for state assisted psychiatric care. I have bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, I am a child abuse survivor, I have rheumatoid arthritis and 3 ruptured discs in my back. I am a convicted felon too. Guess what???? I have worked every day of my life. I have never been on welfare. Yes, I hate it and I am tired but somebody has to pay the rent. 30 years I have been doing this and you know what my doctor told me. You can be disabled or not be disabled it's all in your head and how much you want. I know there are people who are mentally ill and/or physically disabled and not able to workk but I haven't met as many of them as I've met of the ones abusing the system.

Johnny N. you said it wonderfully. Thank you for your excellent post.

ashleyaddams don't appologize for needing the help you and your son deserve it. I have a few friends that have legitimately disabled kids and use the money for what it is intended but there are also some I know of that use the money for their own purpose alcohol, tobacco etc and some as even gone so far as to leave their kids homeless by not paying bills and rent. It states clearly that the money is to be used for medical care not covered and also to keep a roof over the children's heads, etc and put the rest aside for them, it is their money. Yes these parents should get a job and pay the bills but instead they take the money given to the child. There was one family that the father felt he was owed the money and it was his because his child was disabled. Both the parents will not look for work and even receive state benefits on top of it because the child is under 18. And they make sure the child stays sick so benefits will not be cut off. Sick isn't but that's everyday life. And for the people who say turn them in to cps. All of these families have been turned into state and federal agencies but nothing has been done. So what's the next step?

Again ashely do not feel bad and none of the other legitimate parents should. I raised my disabled child alone no medical help from state or federal and no money from them. I worked a minimum wage job and the medications and dr's were expensive but I put myself in debt and kept my child healthy. I tried several times, appeals and all, to get help but my child was denied every time and around me parents of kids with less severe disabilities were given everything and again the parents sat around living off the money.

I support tighter reform for ssi because there is always one child who needs it and denied because a lazy welfare family finds a low enough dr that helps them get into the system only to use their kids and teach them it's ok to live like that.

wow Theresal, I am so glad you know all of us parents abuse ssi! So my disabled daughter is 20 but she is developmentally 3-5 what job should she get? She gets a whopping 674 a month! I paid into that ssi program and so did my husband! But we can't use ssi unless we make her work? Oh wait we are not aloud to use it for household things such as rent, electric, gas, water and sewer, food, her clothes and field trip money for school? Then what are we to use it for? HMMM what do you use yours for? Now don't fib! Food? Rent? Electric? Bet money that you do! By the way, we both work full time but because I did have a disabled child I never got the chance to go back to school. Do you know how hard it is to find a sitter for a child with handicaps? But we pay our bills and we take care of most of hers as well without complaint! We use that money so that she can have activities that we could never in a million years afford! Don't you think we would as parents do anything to help our handicapped kids live a regular life like everyone else but that ain't gonna happen so we try to give them things that will help them like therapeutic horseback riding or bowling so that she has things that help her socialize and give her exercise and give her a little joy as well! Also who are you to tell someone that they shouldn't be aloud to have another child because the first one had a disability? Many woman go one to have regular kids after having one with disabilities. Just another hypocrite! You get to use it but us parents who had the nerve to have a disabled child and who are endangering your use of ssdi benefits shouldn't be aloud to! Gag

amen

You don't know. Little Hulston may grow up and find the cure for cancer, or become the President of the United States.

Or he might just grow up to be another baby daddy living off the government teat.

Actually, I was thinking that CONGRESS should be placed on psychotropic drugs. Maybe they'd actually contribute something to society. No way do they deserve the best healthcare money can buy for the rest of their lives after only "working" for 4 years.

Wow. It amazes me that people can be so cruel regarding children. My daughter had a stroke at birth. We were told that she would never recover from it, but we never once gave up on her. Her medicaid refused to cover the therapy she needed so we had to pay it. The insurance refused to allow her to see a specialist so we had to pay it. We paid for the equipment she needed and for the therapy that she went through. My daughter is now three years old. When we took her the last time to the developmental specialist, they called her a miracle child. In three years, she has regained all movement in her left side and is intellectually well ahead of her age. She has no lasting impairment from the stroke. If we had took your advice and never put our time and energy into this child (who was never suppose to recover), she never would have made the progress that she did. This smart, beautiful girl is going to prove one day that every child should have a chance to reach their highest potential.

But who, of any of us, is born perfect?

As you saying that we should implement Hitlers extermination program that he had in place where he "euthanized" disabled children? Because that sure does sound like what you are advocating EENAR. Maybe we should end life saving care such as CPR for those whose heart stops, I mean wouldn't it be cheaper and since they are technically dead anyways...sad and mean. I really hope you or someone you love never suffers a catastrophic injury or has a disabled child.

As for the globe trying to characterize any SS program as welfare; thats ridiculous and shameful!

The same is true for abortion stats. Fix the economy and the numbers will go down (a fact that republican politicians have, historically, chosen to ignore).

The problem is that this story focused on a child who looks perfectly normal. Most peoples problems aren't with the developmentally and truly physically disabled but with those who claim disability for a disorder such as ADD. SSI was made for people like your brother and I bet 99 percent of us don't have a problem with that.

I agree with Candie 100%. I don't have a problem with people who truly needs SSI getting it. But we have become a country that promotes laziness thru government handouts. If you want a bird's eye view into the mentality of some of the individuals receiving these handouts, go on Netflix and watch "The Wild and Wonderful Whites." It is a real eye opener. As for all the hype about ADHD, my personal opinion is that some of these kids (NOT ALL) need discipline and structure, along with a good whooping. When I was growing up we didn't have labels. If you didn't sit down and shut up when told, you got your butt whipped. Funny how we turned out to be WORKING, PRODUCTIVE members of society. These kids that are on the government's boob, will remain there for the rest of their lives.

that's pretty funny since corporations have gotten billions more in welfare than any poor, sick child! welfare in thia country should certainly be cut and by that I mean corporate! but of course the gop will fight to the death to keep the billions that go to oil companies while telling everyone on fox why poor, sick, old people and children's educations need to be cut! it is so incredibly disgusting!