Last Week Tonight with John Oliver did a show about how messed up Social Security Disability is. I’ve written about how crazy it is trying to get benefits. He drills down on how difficult it is, how bad the process is, and how few applicants are actually accepted.
He talks about how little time the stooge doctors spend with patients in order to evaluate them. How a patient’s doctor’s reports and opinions are completely ignored. An agent who isn’t a doctor, and who has never examined the applicants gets to make a decision about someone’s case. Only 23% of applicants are accepted for SSDI on their first attempt. The average initial application is 8 months. I have been waiting 9.5 months already. The system is overloaded and underfunded/understaffed. It’s very easy to lose benefits, and sometimes they can demand benefits be repaid back to SSD.
It’s an absolute nightmare for disabled people in so many ways. Trying to support yourself is impossible if you can’t work. Disability takes everything from you. Everything. This is why I need help. This is why I made this website. I’m sharing how bad things are so they can be fixed, and I am asking for help. John Oliver does a good job of explaining how “The system is fucked”.
Here is a link to the video on YouTube
Edit 10/2/24: I just got my denial email. I think I was 2 days short of 10 months. I expected this, but that doesn’t make it any easier. It stings. I got the explanation letter in the mail on the same day. It says I’m not disabled based on the medical records and based on the evaluations by their company stooge doctors. This is very strange to me because all my doctors say I’m disabled, and the stooge doctors told me the same thing as well. At least this seems like it would be easily appealable. How can they say I’m not disabled when everyone I’ve had contact with says I am? Lawyers cost $9200, and the appeal can take 2-5 years. I believe this is all by design. They want people to give up and figure something else out. It’s not broken, it’s designed for failure. Insurance companies do the same thing. They can outlast any patient and there are no laws requiring anyone to provide any kind of level of service. Please help. Contact me.