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NPR: The Rise of Disability

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Alma, Mar 24, 2013.

  1. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Does Drudge do any work besides linking stories?
     
  2. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Not really.

    That's why I said he's "highlighted" the issue. He's linked to many stories on the issue, and has given the links prominence on his site.
     
  3. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    The NYT was actually the paper of record that first uncovered the LIRR disability scandal. A stunning 97 % of employees went out on disability. As the paper put it " making it one of the most dangerous places to work in the nation.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/nyregion/21lirr.html

    Love the lede:

    To understand what it’s like to work on the railroad — the Long Island Rail Road — a good place to start is the Sunken Meadow golf course, a rolling stretch of state-owned land on Long Island Sound.

    During the workweek, it is not uncommon to find retired L.I.R.R. employees, sometimes dozens of them, golfing there. A few even walk the course. Yet this is not your typical retiree outing.

    These golfers are considered disabled. At an age when most people still work, they get a pension and tens of thousands of dollars in annual disability payments — a sum roughly equal to the base salary of their old jobs. Even the golf is free, courtesy of New York State taxpayers.

    With incentives like these, occupational disabilities at the L.I.R.R. have become a full-blown epidemic.
     
  4. JRoyal

    JRoyal Well-Known Member

    My mom was on disability when I was younger and I found this part of it horrible. Her doctor signed off on it, the doctor they sent her to signed off on it, but she was forced through a system that in most cases requires you to get a lawyer so you can win your second or third appeal before you're cleared for payments. It's ridiculous and surely there has to be a way to streamline it, reduce costs and still cut down on fraud.
     
  5. SoCalScribe

    SoCalScribe Member

    Watch a "Judge _____" show sometime on over-the-air TV. At least half the ads are for lawyers of two kinds: injury and disability.

    Of course, the rampant fraud involved means no truly disabled person will ever see a half-decent payout, but it'd be anti-union, anti-liberal, anti-XYZ if we reserved disability payments for the truly disabled. You know, like veterans or people who lost limbs in a mill accident or were born so developmentally disabled that they can't take care of themselves.

    No, we wouldn't want to offend anyone, so just cut checks to every pill popper in existence who can find a lawyer-on-layaway to take back payment on their settlements, which finance their prescription painkiller addiction.

    And, yeah, I know a number of people who live that way. I'm guessing I ain't the only one.
     
  6. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    Let's not forget the folks who get disability -- seems that many of them come from the public sector -- and then double-dip by working jobs off the books, for cash or otherwise. They just laugh and laugh at the taxpayers and the system.

    Every so often a local TV news crew will snag video of some disabled cop or fireman when he's out jet-skiing or working as a bouncer all night at a downtown watering spot.

    The political side of it means the "disabled" don't count against the unemployment figures.
     
  7. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    The article didn't touch on it, but how are these attorney's paid? I would assume they don't get one-third of all future payments.
     
  8. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Ding, ding, ding.
     
  9. The money doesn't come out of the disabled person's pockets. No steadier pay check than a government pay check.
     
  10. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    "These golfers are considered disabled. At an age when most people still work, they get a pension and tens of thousands of dollars in annual disability payments — a sum roughly equal to the base salary of their old jobs. Even the golf is free, courtesy of New York State taxpayers.

    Nice work if you can get it
     
  11. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    If they're win their case on the appeal, they get paid retroactively from the date when they first applied. Then the lawyer takes 1/3 of the retroactive money.
     
  12. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    Gotcha ... that makes sense.
     
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