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Post by moopigsdad on Oct 10, 2013 10:26:56 GMT -5
Trekker, you bring up a good point and not to derail this conversation, I too notice a great deal of my claimant's state they do not have a computer or are not computer literate. Usually these are the poor and the bottom of the rung claimant's, ie, the ones that usually really need the help. How are they supposed to access and sign up for ACA? Let's not get into politics again bartleby. The answer to the question is the same way they can get state benefits, either with someone else's help who has a computer or by use of a paper application. Yes, you can acquire a paper application to apply for the ACA.
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Post by bartleby on Oct 10, 2013 10:56:57 GMT -5
I am not getting into politics again. I was not aware that you could do the ACA on paper. My GS came in the other day and while we were discussing that most of my claimants denied that they had access to or could use a computer, she said, "Did you ever conside that they are lying to you?". Number one, they are under oath and I am not convinced that everyone has a computer or easy access to one or how to use them. I did not appreciate the attitude of my GS on this matter. We are in the process of dividing our nation between the haves and have nots and it is a very wide gap. It worries me.
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Post by moopigsdad on Oct 10, 2013 11:20:04 GMT -5
I am not getting into politics again. I was not aware that you could do the ACA on paper. My GS came in the other day and while we were discussing that most of my claimants denied that they had access to or could use a computer, she said, "Did you ever conside that they are lying to you?". Number one, they are under oath and I am not convinced that everyone has a computer or easy access to one or how to use them. I did not appreciate the attitude of my GS on this matter. We are in the process of dividing our nation between the haves and have nots and it is a very wide gap. It worries me. I appreciate your real concern for the division between the "haves" and "have nots". It is where this country is headed and the divide will only widen with time.
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Post by Gaidin on Oct 10, 2013 11:54:48 GMT -5
In my state hearings and meetings are supposed to be noticed to the public. Every year someone tries to make it possible to post notice only online. Obviously, that would disadvantage a huge number of people in my largely rural state who rely on the newspaper for information either because they do not have a computer at home or do not know how to use one. It is very easy to forget that the internet is a new invention and millions of Americans have no or very limited access to it. I think your GS is probably young and naive.
Having had family members attempt to get SSI some successfully and others not I can tell you that its not always an easy nut to crack. Limiting how often people can apply would be a mistake. When I worked at legal aid in law school one of the attorneys I clerked for explained it to me like this "Our clients never have 1 problem and their problems feed off each other and lead to more and greater problems." When I worked in provate practice I saw the same thing with my less fortunate clients. Programs like SSI weren't created to assist the financially sophisticated and the educated they were designed to help the disadvantaged. Not that the upper crust can't also benefit but they aren't the target. Limiting people's access to the system because they are disadvantaged neither furthers policy nor the program. Instead focus on steps that increase oversight and reduce fraud.
Post award follow ups on a 3 - 5 year basis would make sense. Having a government attorney advocate on behalf of the trust fund (with limited ability to stall or delay the proceedings) could be helpful. But telling the poorest of the poor to cough up a filing fee just to get a hearing is in effect a denial of due process.
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Post by decadealj on Oct 10, 2013 13:15:02 GMT -5
OK- gotta tell a war story. About ten years ago I had a 55 year old Russian rocket scientist who didn't speak English file within a month after arriving in US sponsored by a Russian immigrant foundation. I found she could engage in PRW. Well, I messed up ignoring a bit of testimony that she could not handle fumes from the rocket fuel she worked in developing. The AC sent it back for hearing with a VE, etc. At the new hearing she let slip that she had engaged in teaching chemistry. Again found PRW- she could go back to Russia if necessary. That decision stuck. I am not going to open the door on immigration and such but you can get some really tough cases where the claimant is built like a linebacker but can't speak English (maybe?)
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Post by mcb on Oct 10, 2013 14:23:43 GMT -5
OK- gotta tell a war story. About ten years ago I had a 55 year old Russian rocket scientist who didn't speak English file within a month after arriving in US sponsored by a Russian immigrant foundation. I found she could engage in PRW. Well, I messed up ignoring a bit of testimony that she could not handle fumes from the rocket fuel she worked in developing. The AC sent it back for hearing with a VE, etc. At the new hearing she let slip that she had engaged in teaching chemistry. Again found PRW- she could go back to Russia if necessary. That decision stuck. I am not going to open the door on immigration and such but you can get some really tough cases where the claimant is built like a linebacker but can't speak English (maybe?) Are you saying she was on steroids?
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Post by ed on Oct 10, 2013 14:49:06 GMT -5
It is funny how experiences differ, Bartleby knows very few healthy 55 yr olds that can do medium work. I on the other hand, coming from farming country, with relatives in WI that work on dairy farms, and knowing coal miners in KY, I know several 55 yr old plus that are not even healthy, that on a daily basis do not just medium, but heavy work. I guess people do what they know.
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Post by bartleby on Oct 10, 2013 15:21:36 GMT -5
Ed, Bartleby knows very few 55 years olds that can do medium work. bartleby lives in the city, a big city. I threw hay bales at 14 in Wisconsin and milked 77 head of beautiful cows at 4:30 in the morning and at 4:30 in the evening. I was skinny as a rail and ate like a horse. Farm food is really good. I picked thistles out of pea fields for Oconomowac Canning company. I decided to go to college, although I still love driving tractors and pulling manure spreaders. I could tell you about an incident with an electric fence one time, but I digress. My parents were from WV and I can tell you about miners. People do what they have to and guess what, it kills them. I have known miners tha were 35 and you would have thought they were 55 or 65. These are proud people and deserve more than we give them. I can't wait to see our next generation. At least we had PT in school daily and a lot of us served in the Army. We didn't have videos or video games to lay around playing with. We played outside, morning till night and we played manly games, like tag, or baseball or football, or threw dirt clods at each other. We were lumberjacks and we were okay.. Sorry, Monty Python Time..
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Post by ed on Oct 10, 2013 15:34:32 GMT -5
Like I said, funny how experiences differ.
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Post by deltajudge on Oct 10, 2013 20:40:38 GMT -5
8-)Bart, sounds kinda like me. However, I was born and raised in Sunflower County, in the heart of the Delta in Mississippi, literally in the middle of a cotton field. Drove tractors, cultivating endless rows of cotton and soy beans. Didn't have to milk as many cows as you, but we had two, and as you know, had to milk them early in the morning and at night when the plowing was done. No way I could get fat, no tv, but did have a radio.
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Post by chessparent on Oct 11, 2013 6:47:49 GMT -5
Day 10: new furlough activity-milking cows to lose weight.
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Post by minny on Oct 11, 2013 7:40:54 GMT -5
Day 10: new furlough activity-milking cows to lose weight. I wouldn't mind trying that except I was the city-slicker grandkid of those on the farm and became very afraid of cows...and chickens...and digging potatoes. Alas, SSI here I come.
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Post by trekker on Oct 11, 2013 9:30:15 GMT -5
Without revealing my age but it is on the upward side of the age range but still young enough to sit at a desk and work for a decade or so. My parents and grandparents were more city folks but along the lines of firefighters, police, mail carriers (the walking not driving kind). Some will note that I said I grew up in a small town and this is true but there was a military base that provided jobs for most of the town folks and my dad had a vet preference. But he did heavy labor. My summer job was grading tomatoes. And even after college and law school it was my responsibility to do the heavy lifting in our family after my spouse hurt himself lifting a patient (which he now refuses to do given his advancement in age). And as for me, I can still do some heavy lifting but I'll be the first to admit it is really limited. If I had to do a manual labor job (lifting anything over more than 10 lbs on a regular basis) at my age, I would take that early retirement. Heck, I hurt after cleaning two bathrooms, the kitchen and doing laundry. Glad I am more suited for a desk job. Thank you Mom and Dad for making me go to college and thanks to my spouse for encouraging me to go to law school (even from many miles away in a desert storm).
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