The Injustices of the Social Security System With Regard to Psychiatric Patients

TO THE EDITOR: The Social Security Administration’s treatment of individuals who are mentally disabled is truly inhumane. As a patient with schizophrenia, I was on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) for 15 years. Also, two of my family members, one with cerebral palsy that leaves her in a wheelchair and another with borderline personality disorder, are or were beneficiaries of Social Security. Fortunately for me, when I applied for Social Security, I had enough work credits to receive SSDI instead of Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which for me meant $1,050 instead of the roughly $600 per month for each of my family members. Also, I receive Medicare, whereas they received Medicaid, which is a far less lucrative insurance. One wheelchair bound from birth, the other suffering mentally from one of the most torturous illnesses on earth—to think that they receive only enough to barely pay for an apartment in Detroit is really disturbing. Giving Medicaid to the bulk of patients with mental illness is also disturbing. The only health care facilities that accept this insurance tend to be urban clinics, places where attracting talented practitioners is difficult, the environment is typically unwelcoming, burnout among workers is high, and turnover is rampant. Why the government chooses to give better care to those who were blessed to be healthy and able to work for a few years and worse care to those who were not is beyond me. Lastly, patients receiving SSI lose $1 for every $2 they earn. The Social Security system makes no sense.