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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Wed Jan 14, 2015, 05:38 PM Jan 2015

“Join the club”: Rand Paul mocks people on disability

Likely presidential hopeful says most people on disabled aid are just anxious or have back problems

LUKE BRINKER


How’s that GOP rebrand going, you ask? Just in the last few days, a Republican congressman compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler; it emerged that Steve Scalise, the third-ranking House Republican, who spoke before a white supremacist group in 2002, voted as a Louisiana legislator against apologizing for slavery; and the GOP-controlled House passed a bill that would overturn President Obama’s executive actions sparing up to 5 million unauthorized immigrants from deportation. Meeting with legislators in New Hampshire on Wednesday, likely GOP presidential hopeful added disabled people to the group of Americans the party has insulted this week.

The Kentucky senator asserted that the Social Security benefits program is riddled with fraud, with most people who draw benefits suffering from nothing more serious than anxiety or back pain.

“The thing is that all of these programs, there’s always somebody who’s deserving, everybody in this room knows somebody who’s gaming the system. I tell people that if you look like me and you hop out of your truck, you shouldn’t be getting a disability check,” Paul said. “Over half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts. Join the club. Who doesn’t get up a little anxious for work every day and their back hurts? Everyone over 40 has a back pain.”

Bryce Covert dismantles Paul’s claim:

The disability insurance program, which is part of Social Security, has come under scrutiny after two media reports last year that focused on rising enrollment and implied that it was at least partly due to fraud. But the reality is different: fraud in disability programs is estimated to amount to less than 1 percent and is extremely rare, as the agency’s watchdog has found. Its inaccurate payments rate is also less than 1 percent, compared to about 8 percent for Medicaid and Medicare.

The benefits are also very hard to come by. Fewer than four in ten applications are approved even after all stages of appeal. Medical evidence from multiple medical professionals is required in most cases to determine eligibility, which means showing that an applicant suffers from a “severe, medically determinable physical or mental impairment that is expected to last 12 months or result in death.” The severity of the disabilities of those who get benefits is underscored by the fact that one in five men and nearly one in six women die within five years of being approved.


more
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/14/join_the_club_rand_paul_mocks_people_on_disability/
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“Join the club”: Rand Paul mocks people on disability (Original Post) DonViejo Jan 2015 OP
Does Kentucky require a license to practice medicine? GeorgeGist Jan 2015 #1
GOP asshole of the month. silverweb Jan 2015 #2
Jesus Christ. Where do they find these people?! JaneyVee Jan 2015 #3
The irony..if anyone is gaming the system, it is Rand Paul. Jefferson23 Jan 2015 #4
If he thinks the SS disability program is riddled with fraud... Tom_Foolery Jan 2015 #5
Dear Rand, Fuck you, you fucking fuck. Scuba Jan 2015 #6
Yeah, lemme tell you about my DH's backpain, procon Jan 2015 #7
If karma existed ... surrealAmerican Jan 2015 #8
Fuck Rand Paul! zappaman Jan 2015 #9

Tom_Foolery

(4,688 posts)
5. If he thinks the SS disability program is riddled with fraud...
Wed Jan 14, 2015, 05:56 PM
Jan 2015

He better take a long look at congress. They're nothing but a bunch of frauds.

 

Scuba

(53,475 posts)
6. Dear Rand, Fuck you, you fucking fuck.
Wed Jan 14, 2015, 06:27 PM
Jan 2015

I have a loved one on SSDI. She requires dialysis seven days a week to stay alive. I guess your plan is that she should die.

BTW, Rand you asswipe fucking fuck, she works 38 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, and pays taxes greater than her benefit. That's more work than you do, you miserable, quivering blob of santorum.

procon

(15,805 posts)
7. Yeah, lemme tell you about my DH's backpain,
Wed Jan 14, 2015, 07:10 PM
Jan 2015

While fighting a nighttime brushfire, he got pole axed when a telephone burned through and started a cascade of snapped poles that were flailing all alone the fireline. He had no warning and no where to run when a flying pole struck him and smashed him under firetruck. The deep sand saved his life, but the back injury ended his career. For years that man crawled on his hands and knees and shrieked and cried because he couldn't bear the pain to stand and even sitting was intolerable.

Twenty years out and he's better now, but he still has his good days and bad days. Even though he can't drive any more, he's still a big burly guy, and when he gets out of the truck he looks fine at a casual glance and nobody ever notices the sweat beading on his brow or the death grip he has on the door. He's a proud/vain/stubborn man and refuses to use his wheelchair, oxygen or even a cane in public, so Rand Paul would probably write him off as someone who's "gaming the system".

surrealAmerican

(11,340 posts)
8. If karma existed ...
Wed Jan 14, 2015, 08:24 PM
Jan 2015

... this man would soon be stricken with debilitating back pain and panic attacks. As it is I suppose we're stuck with him.

... sucks to be us, I guess ...

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