A recent John Oliver segment detailed the difficult process of applying for disability benefits in the U.S. According to the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) own website, in 2023 nearly 2 million people applied for disability benefits. More than 70% of applications were denied and, of those, a large majority were “technical denials” – non-medical reasons such as a missing form. In order to qualify, you often need a doctor’s note, approval from your insurance, approval from your employer, and finally approval from someone at the Social Security offices. People applying for benefits are already struggling with their health, a disability, or caring for a family member who’s sick. Still, they are tasked with spending hours calling different offices to get their forms submitted. If we ever have to recover from some ailment, whether physical or psychological, one of the last things that we should be spending our time on is navigating a bureaucratic maze of paperwork.
This system punishes us for being sick. The metric that insurance companies and the government use to decide if you are healthy is whether or not you can perform your job. What’s more, the application process is confusing by design. They want people to give up and take sick leave without pay! It sends the message that we are only valued if we are able to work – our personal and physical well-being matter less than the profits companies take from our labor. Social Security services were hard-earned victories of the powerful struggles that workers fought during the 1930s. We should be getting the benefits we deserve!
You can watch the full John Oliver segment on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq2s7RMRsgs
