"Thank you john for admitting my core point, that veterans are being disarmed because they aren't good with finances."
You can't read, can you, or are you just jerking me around for grins? That's not what I said. That's exactly the opposite of what I said. Try reading it again.
It's not being bad with finances that gets folks in trouble and assigned a representative payee. It's when they repeatedly show they can't take care of themselves and manage their day to day activities. It's when they have the utilities cut off for months at a time, live in their car or under a bridge after they lose their home or apartment, wander the street, stop eating, have one medical crisis after another because they won't keep appointments and take meds, drink and drug into oblivion, etc. Not paying bills is a symptom of many illnesses and situations, not the disease.
I've worked with hundreds - thousands? - of folks with representative payees. They were given a payee because they couldn't or wouldn't do the simple things that millions of us do every single day to survive.
Not to be mean, but honestly, they don't have to take the check if they don't like having a payee.
I also believe that there should be an easy way to get off the payee system when things improve, because some people do change and regain control of their life. It's already possible to get off it, it just isn't easy enough IMO.
John
Edited to add: For the past 34 years I've worked with folks in the process of making changes and improving their lives. I seen successes and I've seen failures and I've seen everything in between.
One man comes to mind. I met him in 1979. He had 3 disability checks coming in every month and had been an Army Captain. He had a great deal of money in the bank. He was clean, polite and well behaved. He had a little room in a boarding house and a single-speed bike. He was severely depressed, but content if that makes any sense. He often forgot to pay his bills, so eventually Social Security and the VA assigned him a payee. He wanted to work, but had trouble sticking to a schedule of any sort.
You can't read, can you, or are you just jerking me around for grins? That's not what I said. That's exactly the opposite of what I said. Try reading it again.
It's not being bad with finances that gets folks in trouble and assigned a representative payee. It's when they repeatedly show they can't take care of themselves and manage their day to day activities. It's when they have the utilities cut off for months at a time, live in their car or under a bridge after they lose their home or apartment, wander the street, stop eating, have one medical crisis after another because they won't keep appointments and take meds, drink and drug into oblivion, etc. Not paying bills is a symptom of many illnesses and situations, not the disease.
I've worked with hundreds - thousands? - of folks with representative payees. They were given a payee because they couldn't or wouldn't do the simple things that millions of us do every single day to survive.
Not to be mean, but honestly, they don't have to take the check if they don't like having a payee.
I also believe that there should be an easy way to get off the payee system when things improve, because some people do change and regain control of their life. It's already possible to get off it, it just isn't easy enough IMO.
John
Edited to add: For the past 34 years I've worked with folks in the process of making changes and improving their lives. I seen successes and I've seen failures and I've seen everything in between.
One man comes to mind. I met him in 1979. He had 3 disability checks coming in every month and had been an Army Captain. He had a great deal of money in the bank. He was clean, polite and well behaved. He had a little room in a boarding house and a single-speed bike. He was severely depressed, but content if that makes any sense. He often forgot to pay his bills, so eventually Social Security and the VA assigned him a payee. He wanted to work, but had trouble sticking to a schedule of any sort.
