Too messed up to work

I have an erratic employment record and documented mental health problems. How hard is it to get on SSI? How much do you get paid every month and do you automatically receive Medicaid?

• How about working on fixing your problems rather than figuring out how to get on the dole?

• Your best bet is to hire a lawyer that specializes in that. SSI doesn't pay much but you might be eligible for health care coverage and food stamps. The lawyer fees are a one time thing. A friend of mine just got SSI, he used a pro on the internet that he never met to file his claim and it was quickly approved. He did have to go for a physical evaluation. You might require a mental evaluation. I have heard that a mental health issue was one of the easiest disabilities to get, don't know if that is actually true. Don't put this off, they might decline but your lawyer will appeal. Won't cost you anything if you lose.

• r1, it's easier for OP to drip into our pockets and feed at the public trough.

• Hopefully R1 and R3 will never need to "feed at the public trough" to get help oneday.

• OP, the problem with getting a 'crazy check' is that you are not trusted with your own money, so a trustee is appointed to dole out your monthly payment. Contact your state's health & human services office and see what kind of help you can get.

• Shame on you [1][3]. Fuck you [3]. This is something I understand, ignore this assholes.

• I'm a big believer in a social safety net, but I still think that the OP's "erratic employment record" and "documented mental health problems" are reasons to permanently give up on working. Get proper treatment for the mental health issues, but don't just stop trying to work.

  R1

• "aren't reasons", not "are reasons"

  R7

• Part of the problem, R1, is that when employers know you have mental health problems (which they can check into if they want), they don't want to hire you. You can't even take an SSRI without looking suspect these days.

• There is always Mortville.

  Peggy Gravel

• Get it Peggy!

• What does it mean to have "documented" mental health problems? Isn't that information supposed to be confidential?

• Only in America...fucking pathetic. "Oh, wah wah, I"m so crazy, I can't work! I need pills to get through my life, and I need you all to pay for them for me! BOO HOO I'M SO MENTALLY ILL!"

• OP, what about becoming a librarian or a job where you deal with inanimate objects?

• R4, OP isn't someone who needs help, he's someone who isn't interested in working and wants to take advantage of the system. OP and others engaging in fraud are the ones who are harming social insurance in the US, not R1 and R3.

• OP is too ill to sit at a desk and do work on a computer for 8 hours a day, but that won't stop him from sitting at a computer at home and beating off to porn 8 hours a day.

• [R14] Get back with us when you are struck with a mental illness so we can mock YOU.

• r16, it wouldn't surprise me - but people who are shunned because of mental troubles and frequently denied opportunities tend to become self destructive if they don't discipline themselves against the stigma and get empowered to contribute instead of take. I see both sides of the issue, it's all too easy to come down on people and make assumptions. Everybody has a tough time.

• Paul, R9 has no clue as to what he is spouting. Pay no attention.

• Why are we assuming the OP is a man? Why are the subjects of ire here always male without even pausing to consider the racist/troll/loser is female??

• R12, with all due respect, if you think that such things are "confidential" these days, you are naive and sadly mistaken. Everyone who reads this needs to know that Equifax, the credit reporting agency, years ago set up a nearly identical reporting system for health history based on any available source of information including medical claims through insurance companies, car accident police reports, and Medicare & Medicaid claim information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Although certain protected info is redacted, Equifax "works backwards" to match the individual to the claim info and enter it in their medical history database. Everyone, please do your research now and get a copy of your "health report" as soon as possible! I was shocked at mine, since it contained incorrect info that was almost impossible to remove! In some states, legal assistance may be necessary to obtain a report, as Equifax is known to deny that the health history reporting system exists. OP, I'm sorry to hear of your problems and hope that you can get the help you need. Respectfully, Data Lounge is not the appropriate forum for the personal questions you asked. Self-diagnosis is not good; only a government-authorized mental health examiner can determine if you are "too messed up to work." Please seek assistance from a mental health professional or mental health clinic in your area! Good luck.

• Not to mention, the usual piss test will also determine whether you are on benzos or anti-depressants or pain meds or whatever. The physical exam/drug testing clinics to which most people are referred will ask you to transcribe what meds you're taking, just before testing your piss. Such a list, in most cases, can help potential employers to focus in on exactly what your problem probably is. If you have one, and face it, you do. When you agree to give them your piss and sign the papers, you also give them your med history and health currency. They will kill you if they can, with your own information. Who owns these testing clinics again? Oh right, Rick Scott and his GOP pals.

• Who is subjected to the piss test? Is this for all jobs in the US?

• OP, YOU A**hole why do you expect everyone else to pay for you. I am sorry, but I have seen this too fricking much. You aren't the first, nor will you be the last to expect everyone else to work to take care of you. I know someone who claims her "brain is being eaten away by the chlorine" she inhaled during a work accident - got disability and is now so whacked out on meds from various doctors she shits on the floors of stores. Another is a cat breeder that claims to be so disabled she can't do work from a car accident in the 80's, yet she cat sit on the computer all day and clean up after 20 plus cats - she gets disability and income from selling the cats that we pay to help feed. Another person I know had a slip and fall accident at work and has been in the midst of a workman's comp settlement (oh big payday when the big company settles) - she receives disability, yet can attend jewelry shows and carry her table, supplies, etc. to sell her wares. Meanwhile she worries more about her Vicodin prescription than getting her thyroid prescription refilled. And this is just a few of the ones I know of. So call me jaded, but I am pissed that I work so they can sit at home on their asses.

• R23, 90% of jobs in the US now require a background check and a piss test. Even dishwashing or shelf-stocking jobs require tests. Unsurprisingly, most of the mandated testing facilities are owned by GOP office/place holders.

• Thanks R25. Most of the people I know in highly functioning positions, even Doctors, are on anti-depressants of some sort. I don't understand how anyone in the US gets a job then? Where I live medical info is highly confidential.

• R22/R25 is a paranoid schizophrenic, R26. Nowhere near 90% of employers drug test, and they aren't testing for SSRIs. I've had to undergo pre-employment drug testing twice, both times I was on an SSRI, and both times I got the job. It would be illegal for an employer to withhold employment on the basis of the use of anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medication.

• In hysterics after reading R24...

• My sister is on SSI. At first she was denied but her lawyer had her take a mental health evaluation and she was mildly schizophrenic. She called me crying and I told her she had just passed the test. No one wants a schizophrenic to come charging in with a gun if they get denied. She gets food stamps, some form of health care and other assistance. She has gotten worse as she has aged but she doesn't need someone to handle her money. I wish she did sometimes as she will buy crap when she should buy food or gas. The end of the month is rough on her now that our parents are dead. They used to give her end of the month money. She worked for years until things got strange so I don't feel bad that she is on SSI.

• I hope op wigs out in a psychotic break with reality and shoots in the ass cheek, every poster who blubbered and blew snot bubbles over the fact that op will soon be home collecting a crazy check, and they won't. Boo fucking Hoo.

  James%20%28Crazy%20eyes%29%20Holmes

• A close friend of mine lost her job and unravelled completely. She's on the tail end of unemployment (that she paid into for thirty years), and may be psychically unemployable. I think she will wind up on the Crazy Dole, but that doesn't define her. Well, I guess in a way it does.

• [quote}she was mildly schizophrenic. You either are or you are not. There is not "mildly." That's like saying someone is a little bit pregnant.