Hi Everyone.
I am not sure how my original post was interpreted, but it was not meant to be a comment about a particular administration. I have been disabled over the span of 3 presidential administrations (towards the end of one, all through the second, and now into the present third) and have had difficulty with the disability process throughout. I am not going to get into being for or against any particular administration sine that really wasn’t the point.

The parts of the article I was referring to were these.

“ … Two thirds of claims are denied … Most people will drop their claims … The appeals process can take two years or more ...” “The system is designed to weed out malingerers. It has to be that way to prevent the fraudulent, frivolous claims from getting into the system.”

They say that most people drop their claims because they are faking their disability. But many people drop their claims because they can’t handle the stress of the process since they are in extreme pain.

My point is that you must have the strength to go through the appeals process to have a good chance of eventually getting benefits. Many of us suffering from intensely painful disabilities don’t have the strength for this process. This means that by default, if you are legitimately disabled (I am), you will most likely need to hire an expensive lawyer (I did). Even with a lawyer the process is extremely stressful and a very physically painful experience for someone with CRPS. Also many of us simply can’t afford a lawyer. Depending on your specific situation, the lawyer fee is not always percentage based, and not always paid after the fact.

I was injured in front of 30 witnesses, I was picked up off the floor and taken directly to medical treatment. From that point on I accumulated a steady flow of undeniable medical documentation that is now in a folder 2 feet thick. I have never had any doctor (including government doctors) dispute or deny my condition. Despite all of this, I still had to go through a torturous and painful disability process that lasted years and cost me tens of thousands of dollars. After wining my completely unnecessary legal battle, I was then forced to take legal action of my own in order to regain the money that I had been wrongfully forced to spend. I did all of this and won every time.

Why did all of this happen? Why was I forced into a completely unnecessary legal process when I had mountains of documentation and testimony proving my legitimate disability. The reason was because “The system is designed to weed out malingerers”. That may sound good on paper, but the reality is that in order to reduce their annual payout, the government will do whatever works to reduce the disability payout. And the fact is, that the government has found that if you put disabled people through enough stress and expense, they will voluntarily drop their legitimate disability claims, and the annual disability payout is then reduced.

The only reason for the entire unwarranted legal mess I was forced into was to try to make me give up my claim voluntarily. This is not my opinion. I had an excellent lawyer who had worked on the government side of the disability process for years. The lawyer explained to me why and how all of these things were being done. Without that guidance and insight I do not think I would have been able to endure the stress of the entire process. Had they succeeded in forcing me to give up my legitimate claim, I would almost certainly be dead by now, since I would not have been able to afford the resources to treat my extremely painful and debilitating CRPS.

By contrast, if you are a “malingerer”, and you are perfectly healthy, and you have years of experience defrauding the welfare system, you will have no problem whatsoever navigating through this process and ending up with disability benefits. The malingerers are the only ones who have the strength to endure the process. It is not painful for them since they are healthy. It is not stressful for them since they actually have nothing to lose and will be fine if they get denied.

The end result is that you have malingerers getting disability since they are healthy enough to handle the process, you have tens of thousands of legitimately disabled people not getting disability since they are too disabled to handle the process, and you have a government that really doesn’t care since their annul disability payout has been reduced.

I know it’s a bit much, but it’s the truth. I hope this may have been helpful to anyone who is dealing with the process. God Bless You All.

Bernclay-