The Politics of Disability

When you pay regularly into an insurance program, the benefits should be there for you when you need them…right? 

Today Coup Save America welcomes Spencer Bishins back to the show for a second look at the difficult process of applying for Social Security Disability Insurance. Mr. Bishins is an attorney, author, and former employee of the Social Security Administration. He recently acted as a consultant for a Washington Post Article titled “Judges Rebuke Social Security for Errors as Disability Denials Stack Up.” 

In this episode, Mr. Bishins tells us that the Social Security Administration is not inherently evil; they are simply underfunded and doing the best they can with the resources at their disposal. He poses the question, why does SSDI operate like a private insurance company when it is actually a federal program? He goes on to explain the many types of benefit claims that the SSA funds “from one bucket”, from which SSDI is the only claim that can be denied. 

Sean and Mr. Bishins talk about how easy it is for Americans to find themselves disabled, even when we least expect it, and they discuss how our system of capitalism is very hard on the American worker. Government resources are not allocated in a way that is conducive to a healthy economy. Mr. Bishins explains how funding is wasted on “just in case” scenarios when our communities could see sure and immediate benefit from putting money into workers instead, for example, the way that disability payments go straight back into the economy and how assisting disabled workers in the short term can help them return to gainful employment and boosting our economy in the long term.   

Mr. Bishins tells us how the Baby Boomer generation has affected our country’s ability to adequately fund many entitlement programs, and he explains why Congress does not care about solving problems related to the Social Security Administration. And considering how the SSDI situation is not headed in an optimistic direction, Mr. Bishins once again shares tips about the ins and outs of applying for SSDI that will give people the best chance at being approved. This advice and much more can be found in Spencer Bishin’s book Social Security Disability Revealed: Why it’s so hard to access benefits and what you can do about it – available in paperback, digital, and audio formats. 

Other conversation topics include: How disabled non-workers receive support, the increasing problem of homelessness, continuing disability reviews, Universal Basic Income, and the various sports teams of Seattle.