News You Can Use: What To Do If (When?) The Social Security Checks Stop

It's been said by some people (e.g., former Senator Judd Gregg, R-NH) that the Republicans in Congress aren't likely to pass any debt ceiling bill until a few social security checks are missed.

"My gut tells me that we'll need a weekend of drama — maybe a weekend of the government not paying its bills — politicians need drama to make something happen. As soon as social security checks don't go out, the politics will change. I suspect it'll take artificial drama to get closure past the House."
"Boehner understands that a shutdown is bad for his caucus and that there's something viable short of a shutdown but right now... it's a 50-50 chance that we go into a few days of disruption."

You know I think Judd Gregg may be right. Which led me to ponder about what people who don't get their social security income (SSA) checks in August might have to do. Oh, I don't mean the well-off, the billionaires and millionaires. To them SSA is just a little bonus. No, I mean those people who rely heavily on their SSA or SSDI check from the government to pay the bills, buy food, etc.

Let me say for starters that I have a direct stake in this discussion. Our family's major source of income is social security disability (SSDI) my wife receives because she had pancreatic cancer and, as a result of treatment, became a brittle diabetic and suffered severe loss of her cognitive functioning (due to the chemotherapy drug used during her radiation treatment). You can read about her story here. I am also disabled by a rare autoimmune disorder, TRAPS, but my ERISA benefit plan's disability trustee (Liberty Mutual Insurance) denied me benefits and that denial was upheld by the federal district court because a doctor I never met hired by the insurance company reviewed my medical files and determined I was not disabled (you can read about my story here). I was told after the lawsuit ended the way it did not to bother filing for SSDI as there was little chance I would be approved.

So, if the government stops sending out Social Security Checks in August (and you know they aren't going to suddenly stop paying interest on the T-Bills or end the wars in the Middle East) what's a social security beneficiary to do when the checks stop coming?.....

Find out the rest of this article at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/21/997024/-What-To-Do-If-(When)-Your-Social-Security-Checks-Stop-Coming?via=spotlight