after contributing to the system for 25 years when I really need it I'm going to get screwed again.

My cousin was on ssdi for several years. He was a diabetic from early childhood, and though he managed to put himself through college to become a psychologist and operated his own business for 20+ years, his disease took a terrible toll on him. He lost his sight, couldn't walk anymore, and was on 25+ pills a day. His medical bills were unbelievable. Even with insurance, he was paying so much each month, he reached the doughnut hole in Feb. each year, and even though he became elilgible for the lower cost drugs after the doughnut hole, there were many that weren't covered at all. He passed away 3 years ago, but he & his wife had to declare bankruptcy about a year before he died and it was all because of medical bills. I spoke to her recently and asked if Obama Care would have helped. She said "Oh yes! you have no idea how much it would have helped!"

I know his story is not the exception for many on ssdi. I hope Sen. Brown will be able to convince enough of his Pub cohorts to give up on this idea.

and it's all confusing to me but if this happens then the 20 percent cut will take hold in late 2016? Color me confused.

My heart function is around 10%(measured by ejection fraction) and very susceptible to physical and emotional stress.

My benefit is around $1,100 a month.
Then they take about $100.00 for Medicare
Then they take almost $200.00 because of my school loans...

I live with my parents and I really don't know what will happen to me when they are gone (my mom is in her 60s and my dad is in his 70s). I work part-time online now and would like to try full-time employment, but I'm afraid to overtax myself and end up in the hospital which already happens more than I'd like.

If they hold up the reallocation, it's going to make a difficult life even more difficult...

I get $800, then medicare (A,B, and D) and student loans take another $140 per month. I live with my grandparents to help take care of them, but they still pay half the bills. I doubt they're going to last until 2016, so having my bills double and then loosing %20 means that I either have to stop eating every day or in a year I'll loose my house because I won't be able to set $100/month to pay the property taxes at the end of the year. And since I'm so temperature sensitive, a few weeks on the street during the summer will just finish me off. Which is probably part of the agenda, to get rid of the "excess population".

Get ready to have people, even here on DU, start to tell us that we're "taking entitlements".

It is disgusting what is tolerated around here.

I started paying for the Disability I'm receiving now when I first started working at 13. I worked hard for years at crap jobs so that money would be there for me when I got too hurt and too sick to work anymore.

Anyone who uses the word "entitlement" to mean "handout" is talking out of their ass. It means something you have the right to.

I started working for my uncle and paying into the system at 14. I served in the Air Force, where I paid into the system the whole time. Even when my first claim was rejected, I forced myself to work until I got fired from three jobs in a row for having seizures at work. I feel that I earned the right to have my government, whom I served loyally, take care of me in my declining years. Is that so much to ask, really? To not be afraid, all the time, that something will go wrong, and I'll miss a single check and be on the streets?

And...how much did the GOP spend on their efforts to get rid of the AFA? Meanwhile, I live in Florida, and my partner has no medical coverage at all. Because the governor is a snake cultist who feeds on misery?

Disability is permanent. As I posted earlier, my $7000 in student loans were dismissed after a two year struggle to get my disability. The only thing is on my taxes this year I was taxed on that $7000. Much easier to pay the taxes than the entire loan amount.

ETA information on student loan discharge here

https://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts/disability-discharge

Obama was set to expand it to everybody. I haven't seen if it has happened yet, but look for it and watch for it.

And post what I find here. I imagine there are a lot of folks here that are as clueless about this as I am.

I plan to look into it but like you, I'm not sure where it's at right now.

They're sending me a packet which I have to fill out, and then I have to take a form to my doc that acknowledges that I will be disabled for life and never work again. So far so good.

You may very well qualify for a full discharge of your loan.

https://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation

https://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/deferment-forbearance

to be applying for this ASAP. The discharge of my loans, which I'll just never be able to repay, will be a huge boon to my family. Just being able to pay for some dental work will be a huge quality of life boost for me and my partner.

It's a pretty simple process, and I can totally relate to what a difference not having to make that payment would make in your life.

I went this route with mine after my disability went through. The only thing I had to pay was the taxes on the amount I owed which was discharged.

Discharge, or even repeated deferments, can make make a huge difference in the quality of someones life. I'm glad it worked out for you.

Isn't that what they say about us, that we're living high off the sweat of others? I was working on the day that I went in the hospital...and later was disabled.

We get just enough to almost get by. Lucky for me, my wife works and takes care of us.

I am excited because next month will be the last time they take a whopping cut out for my student loans. I was almost finished with them before I went down.

A lot of people exist on the small amount that SSDI gives us

None of these people want to refuse the money when a car insurance company pays after an accident. And funny thing is, none of these people want to trade places with my sick ass.

on the job. I tried going back, but was "retired" by the county.

Every doctor that I've seen has said "100% disabled."

I'm a single parent, raising two daughters. I've experienced worse poverty at other times, but the change in income has definitely impacted my daughters' life-styles.

Student loans dismissed? I had $7000 of my student loans dismissed after I was found to be disabled after a two year struggle.

ETA info on student loan discharge here

https://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts/disability-discharge

What is the likelihood of this happening? I won't be able to make it. I can only hope that my major depression and anxiety does me in before this. What the fuck is wrong with this country? I just can't believe I have to worry about this actually happening.

the poor, disabled, and defenseless.

This will hurt a lot of people with utilities and most everything else on the rise.

and I think it is absolutely perfect!

The rethugs would be perfectly happy to have the disabled wither away and die in the shadows. Benefit cuts are tantamount to the death penalty for many on disability. They know it, they won't say it, but they know it. The disabled have no place in the rethugs vision of a perfect society.

Any Democratic President worth his bona fides ought to tell it and tell it LOUDLY and OFTEN what Republicans want to do to OUR PARENTS, OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, OUR CHILDREN WHO NEED HELP.

I suspect, however, that this President will, alas, go for the cave and "reach across the aisle."

for an attorney who did SSDI appeals cases. I learned a lot about SSDI. One that the benefit is far less than most people realize, because most people who go on disability are relatively young, haven't paid in a whole heck of a lot, and so don't have a big benefit built up. Another is that the vast majority of them really would rather be working.

My attorney had one client who was her own worst enemy, because she really couldn't work consistently. But she'd get a job, do okay for maybe a couple of months, then things would go bad and she couldn't work. But it looked more (to someone who didn't really look closely at her actual medical history) like someone who was trying to game the system by working, then not working and trying to get disability.

Other people had truly tragic stories, and more than one was homeless.

Someone who has never had any health issues (and I'm one of those) can find it far too easy to think someone else is faking, or gaming the system, or not really that bad off. I remind myself how incredibly fortunate I am to be healthy.

I can also add that some people do think it's pretty easy to go on disability. I had a co-worker at my last job who does have various health issues, but she is able to work. She's about 52, and sometimes she'd tell me that sometimes she thought she'd just go on disability. I could never quite get her to understand that it's not going to happen unless she really, really can't work, and even then there will be a period of time to get it approved, and she'd be taking home significantly less money than she does now. And because she's so young, she'd have two years before Medicare kicks in. No, if you really can work it's usually better to do so.