A Response to SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY ABUSE by Duane B.

I was writing this as a comment in response to Social Security Disability Abuse, an article written here on Gather by Duane B. I saw how long it was getting and decided to bring it into its own post. Here goes:

Duane,

It's very, very difficult to get on SSD due to mental health issues. I have depression, but I wouldn't declare my Depression a minor mood disorder. Of the past 6.5 years, I've spent approximately three of them in one inpatient psychiatric facility or another for treatment of my Depression and "bad thoughts" (I won't say what those bad thoughts are but if you've worked in mental health and have dealt with people who suffer from severe chronic Depression you can guess what those "bad thoughts" are).

Right now my Depression is manageable. I'm on my meds, which I can afford in small part thanks to Medicare Part D (my co-pay for the four medications I take for my Depression/Anxiety is nearly $90). I remain in treatment because I have a psychiatrist and therapist who work with me, who are great, and who take Medicare for payment. They don't tell me to go elsewhere if I miss a few sessions. They worry, but they've stuck with me for the past year or so that I've been going to them. My life hasn't been better in a long, long time.

I can work part-time. I could probably work about 20 hours per week if Social Security allowed me to do so, but that's not possible. I can't do full time work, however, due to the Depression and other physical ailments. If I get a permanent, part-time job, I won't get health benefits (insurance) that cover my mental health issues (severe, chronic Depression). Without health benefits covering my mental health issues, I'll stop treatment as I won't be able to afford them and within a few months I'll be back in the hospital. This is a cycle that was repeated for nearly five years before I found my current treatment team and benefits level.

I've gone through my trial work period with Social Security. That means that instead of $600/month, I'm allowed to earn $900/month. However, the minute I earn over $900/month (gross pay), I get cut off and there's no appeal; I'd have to re-file for benefits, which will be more difficult to obtain as SSD will make the case that I earned more than $900/month so I have demonstrated an ability to work and, therefore, do not meet the criteria for being disabled and eligible for SSD benefits, of which Medicare--provided by SSD--is my only health insurance.

I currently receive from SSD (rounding up for the sake of simplicity) $1200/month. I pay out $100 for Medicare benefits. So this is my working budget if I maintain what I'm currently doing and can find 30 hours of work per month:

$1200 from SSD
$900 from work that I'm allowed to earn per month, presuming I can find the work
----------------------
$2100 per month

Let's look at the expenses:
$1050 - rent
$100 - Medicare
$100 - medications
$150 - phone + Internet phone
$400 - food
$300 - taxes+etc. taken out of $900 income (they base my taxes on the hourly rate, not what I actually earn for the pay period)
=============
$2100, which is just about equal to my income.

Of course, I haven't earned $900/month since last August, as I haven't worked since then. So my expenses right now are a bit above my income.

Now here's the thing....the type of work I do happens to pay fairly well. Let's just say that I earn, on average, close to $30/hour (I'm actually rounding up a little to make this easy). That means that I can work 30 hours and keep my benefits. Now, 30 hours per month is not anywhere near the 20 hours per week that I could work if I were so allowed. But let's just say that I do work 20 hours per week, or 21 hours per week (that's 3 7-hour days, which is what I probably would do). Here's the breakdown:

$600 for the first week
$600 for the second week -- SSD kills my benefits
$600 for the third week
$600 for the fourth week
--------------------------
$2400 for the month

Now let's look at the expenses again:
$1050 - rent
$400 - medications
$150 - phone + Internet phone
$400 - food
$600 - taxes+etc. taken out of $900 income (they base my taxes on the hourly rate, not what I actually earn for the pay period)
$150 - psychiatrist's appointment on sliding scale payment ($150 at 1x/mo)
$400 - therapist's appointment on sliding scale payment ($100 at 4x/mo)
=============
$3150 in expenses for the month.

So in order for me to live without being on disability, I'd have to be earning somewhere in the neighborhood of $40,000/year, working part-time, which is currently about twice what I can earn while being on SSD.

Of course, I'm not taking into account any other expenses, such as when I see the physical doctor, or if I need an extra therapy session, or if I drop in on a group session. As I've stated, my current treatment team takes my Medicare payment as payment in full for their services, which is wonderful for me as that leaves me with having to pay only the co-pays for my physical doctors and my medications. Erase Medicare and that disappears; my expenses go way, way up.

Find me a job that pays that which I can physically and mentally handle, and I'll happily get off SSD and a fixed-income lifestyle that I shouldn't have to be on in my early 30s. :p

Or, fix the SSD system so that what one is allowed to earn isn't based on income but rather on the time spent at the job. I mean, on SSD, I could (if I were physically able to do so) get a full-time job working 35 hours per week at minimum wage and maintain my benefits (I'm just not physically able to do so and, well, quite frankly, taking an 80% pay cut isn't all that appealing to most individuals).

[Edit 7 June 2008:] You know I was just thinking about this as I wrote my e-mail to Senator Schumer (D, NY). For those individuals like me who are able to work more than a few days per month but cannot due to the income earning limitation, perhaps we could be placed on a graduated system, where we keep our medical benefits but our SSD benefit is reduced proportionately to the income we earn from work. That would be a quick fix but ideally, I would like to see it set up such that the limitation was based on one's actual ability to do work and not the income derived from performing such work. That way, people who earn $20, $30, $40 per hour can work a 10 or 15 hours per week and keep their benefits.

Finally, please read through all of the comments posted here; others have similar or related experiences, so I know that mine is not an isolated incident.