Presidential Hopefuls & Dysfunctional Social Welfare System
By Adnan Gill
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Before I give you my vote, please tell me how you are going to fix the dysfunctional American social welfare system?
It takes a permanently disabled person, at minimum, 24 months to start receiving Medicare benefits, i.e. after he/she becomes a Social Security recipient. It takes at least 6 months to become a Social Security recipient. Do the lawmakers and the bureaucrats think 30 months is a long enough time for a disabled person to expire, so there would be one less person breathing the polluted air?
If there is anyone who thinks Medicare is a one fantastic free ride, think again. In reality, most of the doctors don't accept Medicare patients. Till recently, Medicare did not cover any sort of prescription medication. Now, the Medicare recipients pay for the prescription coverage. Medicare covers only 80% of expenses for majority of tests, procedures, and treatments. That's not all; Medicare also doesn't cover some of the tests that could make a difference of life and death, like MRIs with contrast. So it's up to the patient whether to pay $500 out of his pocket to save his life or not.
An average American family of four qualifies for a maximum $1,600/month of Social Security income. If a doctor orders brain and full spine MRI scans with contrast, which can easily cost over $12,000, a patient is held liable for the 20% plus $500/section for the contrast. The total comes out to approximately $4,400. Meaning, just MRI scans can cost the patient three months of Social Security income. Mind you, this $4,400 is in addition to the doctors’ fees (which can be as high as $500 per visit) and the treatment.
Believe it or not, it pays to be irresponsible, jobless, or not to spend a single penny in one's future. Because at the time of disability, if you have more than $3,000 in your account, retirement plan, or more than $2,200 on your monthly check, the government will severely penalize you by making you ineligible for state assistance, like secondary insurance, food stamps, and/or financial aid.
Ironically, if one becomes permanently disabled without any sort of private long-term disability plan or jobless, one could qualify for free of cost medical treatment, food stamps, free living, and financial aid.
So, let me ask you:
1. Which legislators and bureaucrats deserve our gratitude for devising such an ingenious welfare system that rewards the irresponsible, while at the same time, it penalizes those who invest in their future?
2. How does holding off the medical treatment of a seriously ill person for 30 months benefit the society, when during those same 30 months the person could have been rehabbed to certain level which could have enabled him/her to contribute to the society by paying taxes; instead of being a recipient of taxes?
3. How is the war in Iraq, that easily costs $200 billion/year, going to assist the permanently disabled to pay their medical costs, monthly rent, utility bills, or buy food?
4. How is the war in Iraq increasing our security?
5. How is the war in Iraq going to reduce our $1 trillion national debt?
6. How is the war in Iraq going to reduce inflation, or the trade deficit?
7. How many policemen, firemen, and teachers can we train every year with the same $200 billion a year that we are burning in Iraq?
8. How many clinics, hospitals, schools, and universities can we build every year with the same $200 billion a year that we are burning in Iraq?
9. If history is any guide, how long is it going to take us to label the Iraqi-veterans as the ‘freeloaders?’
10. How is the kicking out all of illegal aliens going to reduce food prices, and labor costs?
11. Most importantly, where is the incentive for an average American to be responsible and honest?
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