My letter to President Obama

This is in relation to the previous blog post, and was sent via the White House's contact home page.


Dear President Obama,

I've found a very odd stipulation related to Social Security disability rules and regulations, and am quite confused. The good news is, I have finally won a five year old disability case, and am now eligible for Medicare. The bad news is... that I will be penalized for having more than $2000 in my bank account(s) after the six month grace period ends for each of the three back-payment checks. The final check will be quite large.

I don't understand this. I was literally the first person ever to ask my SSA caseworker if there is a way to *save* the money. The only legal ways are either investing the money in a car (the first of which will not count against me), or opening a special disabilities fund, which I cannot access and must do something like up and die before someone *else* can access it. I checked with my bank, and a basic savings account would net me a fairly unimpressive total of $110 a year in interest on $10,000, which means $220 on $20,000. These are the sorts of amounts I will have to work with when the time comes. Right now I can't handle a car, let alone maintain or insure it.

I would happily pay tax on the bank interest, but in the meantime I would be losing over $1,000 a year in SSI payments and also no longer receive Medicaid. Yes, Medicaid is one of the worst insurance providers (in my experience), but it is best to have as much coverage as possible when one's body is at war with itself. I have a housing voucher which makes rent much more doable, but I live on an income notably below the poverty line and cannot work. A decent amount of money squared away would be a smart choice, right?

Instead, I am being encouraged by the system to spend it all. Yes, there is a lot of "stuff" I could buy. I can spend money just as easily as the next person. But I want to be fiscally smarter than that, and it feels very much like the government would punish me for doing so. Is the idea this: that I am disabled, and thus should be poor my entire life? That is really the only impression I'm left with.

I know you and your staff are busy, but I hope this lets you know just how messed up the system is even on this rung of the ladder, wherever it lies in the social and political hierarchy. I hope you can do something about it, because there can be no valid reasoning behind it. Thank you for your time, whoever is actually reading this, and best of luck should you try to take on this cause.


It was signed "Sincerely," and then my legal name. Good luck, little digital emissary.


Edit: In the end, all I got back was a keyword-generated email about the Obama Administration needing more support in general from lawmakers in relation to disability laws and services. It's so great to know my government cares about me enough to actually read my email and notice that was not at all what I wrote about.