This article may be relevant:
http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2016...-most-costly-for-US-healthcare/3221463752962/
I am concerned that need for government assistance is greatest in those with severe impairments which are defined by deficits in ability to maintain stable housing, transportation, read and write, fill out forms, know what day it is, show up for appointments, stay out of jail to make those appointments, have a way to get to those appointments, hire and work with a disability lawyer, etc. These are people that, often, on their best days are worried about where they are sleeping next or where their next meal is coming from.
Any kind of barriers to access of these resources discriminates most against this population, even if its intent is to knock off freeloaders.
After all, it is impossible to administratively determine that someone is making an effort to better themselves or otherwise is unable to do so. Freeloaders are those most apt to benefit, because they'll know how to game the system by showing up for work training and not actually trying to work, etc.
Yet barriers must exist because this is inherently a limited resource, so you must ration it somehow. For disability cases, wait times are on average > 1 year, in some places > 2, just for a hearing, in which is rejected 2/3 of the time on first hearing regardless of case merit as a way of rationing the expense even more.
To actually get disability, you have to hire a lawyer. You have to show up to appointments with a lawyer. You have to make yourself a priority for that lawyer. You have to show up to doctors. You have to get them to fill out paperwork and send records. Most doctors won't do it or do it correctly. Even if they do, you'll get rejected. Then you have to do it over and over again until someone says yes. It's exhausting work that legitimately disabled people often cannot do on their own. Some are lucky enough to have been established with a case manager that's worth a damn and some have family that are invested, but it ain't easy. Otherwise, if someone actually gets disability awarded by their own efforts, it is strong evidence that they have plenty of skills to earn a living without it.
You may not care so much about the people who are most marginalized. I don't blame you. It's my life, but I don't expect it to be yours. However, you should care about it when looking toward policy. If these people aren't receiving federal aid directly, they are indirectly. They are eating up your healthcare tax dollars or your prison or jail system tax dollars or your charitable donations. Of the most expensive places for them to be, the hospital and incarcerated take the cake. And it's also the most dangerous place for them to be.
This intervention will save money. Well, at least on the food stamp program. Unfortunately, I expect it to cost more money elsewhere, and such an effect will be so confounded it will be nearly impossible to measure.
But this is a problem with bureaucracy. Trimming your own budget often leaves some other budget taking up the slack and then some.
http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2016...-most-costly-for-US-healthcare/3221463752962/
I am concerned that need for government assistance is greatest in those with severe impairments which are defined by deficits in ability to maintain stable housing, transportation, read and write, fill out forms, know what day it is, show up for appointments, stay out of jail to make those appointments, have a way to get to those appointments, hire and work with a disability lawyer, etc. These are people that, often, on their best days are worried about where they are sleeping next or where their next meal is coming from.
Any kind of barriers to access of these resources discriminates most against this population, even if its intent is to knock off freeloaders.
After all, it is impossible to administratively determine that someone is making an effort to better themselves or otherwise is unable to do so. Freeloaders are those most apt to benefit, because they'll know how to game the system by showing up for work training and not actually trying to work, etc.
Yet barriers must exist because this is inherently a limited resource, so you must ration it somehow. For disability cases, wait times are on average > 1 year, in some places > 2, just for a hearing, in which is rejected 2/3 of the time on first hearing regardless of case merit as a way of rationing the expense even more.
To actually get disability, you have to hire a lawyer. You have to show up to appointments with a lawyer. You have to make yourself a priority for that lawyer. You have to show up to doctors. You have to get them to fill out paperwork and send records. Most doctors won't do it or do it correctly. Even if they do, you'll get rejected. Then you have to do it over and over again until someone says yes. It's exhausting work that legitimately disabled people often cannot do on their own. Some are lucky enough to have been established with a case manager that's worth a damn and some have family that are invested, but it ain't easy. Otherwise, if someone actually gets disability awarded by their own efforts, it is strong evidence that they have plenty of skills to earn a living without it.
You may not care so much about the people who are most marginalized. I don't blame you. It's my life, but I don't expect it to be yours. However, you should care about it when looking toward policy. If these people aren't receiving federal aid directly, they are indirectly. They are eating up your healthcare tax dollars or your prison or jail system tax dollars or your charitable donations. Of the most expensive places for them to be, the hospital and incarcerated take the cake. And it's also the most dangerous place for them to be.
This intervention will save money. Well, at least on the food stamp program. Unfortunately, I expect it to cost more money elsewhere, and such an effect will be so confounded it will be nearly impossible to measure.
But this is a problem with bureaucracy. Trimming your own budget often leaves some other budget taking up the slack and then some.