Your letter pointed out many facts I (and some others) left out of, or
skimmed over lightly, our notes on the subject of Welfare and its impact
on society.
There were a couple of other responses to my original post that I
responded to in private not wishing to extend this thread too much
farther on the list. But it seems it just will not go away, so here I am
once again speaking out to the list. Not only in response to your
letter, but to others that have appeared in the last few days.
I believe I made an exception for the disabled. But just in case I did
not make it clear in my previous correspondence, I wish to clarify that
here. I concentrated on the numerous cheats and outright bums who fatten
the welfare rolls and continue on them for extended periods, sometimes
for life. But these are ABLE BODIED leaches I was and am referring to,
not those who are unable to be gainfully employed because of some
physical disability such as yours and mine.
Yes, you read that correctly. I am not a rich man with a large income
complaining of my tax dollars going to support or aid disabled persons.
I too am on a disability retirement. But my disability is nowhere nearly
as severe as yours. I am still walking around (not much, and with a
cane, but still walking).
There are a number of different programs available to the totally
disabled. The older one is, and the more work experience one has when
first disabled, the more options there are. I am fortunate in that I was
near normal retirement anyway and had already completed one career and
was working on a second one when I became disabled. So I have income
from my first career, Social Security, and group insurance (reduced by
Social Security), to fall back on. So I do not need (nor qualify for)
any state or federal welfare programs. Others not as lucky as I do need
those programs. And they do not need a large number of cheats giving the
programs a bad name. But that is what happens anyway.
There are some very well established misconceptions about many programs
and I wish also to clarify some of those while on the subject.
Social Security and Federal Medicare associated with it are NOT welfare
programs. They are Government required Insurance programs. Almost all
workers pay into the fund from the very beginning of their working life
until (and sometimes after) retirement. And those of us using Medicare
must pay a monthly premium for that insurance whether we use it or not.
And there is an annual deductible and it only pays 80% of fees after
that. So it ain't free.
But even in these programs there is a good amount of fraud and abuse.
I understand (although I have not personally seen) that there are those
who somehow obtain the benefits even though they are not really
qualified. And then use them to rip off the government by ripping off
the programs. What I have seen is widespread abuse by medical service
providers, including doctors, clinics, labs, pharmacies, and hospitals.
Double billing and over billing is quite common. I try to make sure that
all providers I deal with know that I will be carefully reviewing all
reports and documentation and will report any discrepancies I see. So
far, I have not caught any on my billing. But I have been asked a couple
of times to sign incomplete forms.
A part of the discussion here covered lightly the subject of
unemployment compensation. I gave an example of how far it has gone
toward a money giveaway program to one of the persons I responded to
privately. A personal experience.
When I retired from the US military I was told I qualified for
unemployment compensation. I really didn't believe it, so I decided to
find out for myself. I applied and DID qualify even though I had a
retirement income comming in. I actually collected one week's check
before I got a part time job and got it canceled.
Now I can understand someone who has just finished four or six years in
the military, getting out and not having a job really needing a few weeks
help to tide them over until they can find a decent job. And I would
have no argument with that at all. But extending those benefits to a
retiree is going a bit far in my not so humble opinion.
Welfare should be defined as "A program provided by the state or
federal government to aid persons and families in real need of assistance
to pay bare necessities". That leaves out most of the Social Security
administration's program's. Those are actually insurance programs paid
for by the workers. It is not the worker's fault the government can't
manage the money in such a way as to have enough left over to pay out
benefits when they come due. It should also leave out workmen's
compensation and unemployment compensation. Those are supposed to be
paid for by special taxes paid by workers and employees. But those
programs, especially unemployment, have grown over the years to include a
lot that was not originally intended to be in them.
And Welfare should also have somewhere in its definition, a phrase or
clause making it a temporary program, not a way of life, except for the
totally disabled who have no other recourse.
--Dan in Sunny Puerto Rico--