Patrick R. McElhiney is a strong supporter of enhanced benefits programs for the disabled and sick, including universal healthcare and disability benefits. A disabled person himself, Patrick has had to work extra hard to emerge from the depths that he was placed in because of his disability. He understands how difficult it is to work when you are disabled, and that’s why he supports increasing the limits on resources and income for disabled persons, including the sick and injured, including those that are disabled due to permanent mental health conditions.
Patrick believes that the disabled are already penalized due to their disability, though he also believes it is truly possible to achieve happiness when you are disabled. Patrick has returned to school to work on a PhD degree – which would not be possible if it were not because of the disability. The reason the disability is an asset, is because it trains you to be rigid, to be structured, to achieve things that would not normally be possible for yourself. Patrick is gifted with great intelligence and leadership abilities, but he also suffers from multiple mental health disorders. Many famous people have mental health issues, and they can manage them well and still be very productive.
The road to achieving success is to first receive quality healthcare services, and work with your doctors to become happy with your health status, regardless of how disabling it is. Patrick believes that regardless of disability, anyone should be able to attend school or work a full-time job, and raise a family of their own – even in cases of severe physical disability or mental disability. It’s technically possible – you just need support systems in place. Don't get discouraged by the Republicans, who don’t like to spend taxpayer money on the disabled. It’s up to you to out-vote the Republicans in every election, and demand improvements to your benefits from your elected leaders in Washington, D.C.
The Republicans Are Opposed To Social Programs
Patrick McElhiney has struggled with his disability, both medically and financially. For years, he hasn't been able to support himself, and he was malnourished. When he finally found the right medications, he became obese because of the side effects. It’s like the world is working against you, while at the same time helping you when you’re disabled. You still need to get up in the morning and do something productive in the world. It’s not just up to you – it’s up to having government programs that support your needs, whether you need healthcare services, or transportation, or income, or any of the other services that you have access to as a disabled person. The Republicans like to think of the disabled as “milking” the system – they want to shut down the Federal Government’s programs for the disabled, because they're successful and they don't want to spend their money (through taxes) on other people. They want to discontinue universal healthcare and other social programs. It’s up to you to take control of your life, because they don’t want to support you.
The Republicans have had it easy – they usually come from backgrounds of rich families, and have rich friends, and they will do anything to cut their taxes. There’s a certain level of social responsibility that the Republicans must admit to, and that means supporting the disabled while they are displaced or working towards improving their life. We should respect the Republicans – because if we were not sick and disabled, we probably wouldn’t want to foot the bill, either. It’s only natural to want independence from Government when you’re rich, but leaving the sick, elderly, and disabled to suffer for their entire lives without any government support isn’t Justice. It’s hypocrisy.
Disability Programs
What we need are disability programs that reward you to go to work – not take your benefits away. It’s hard enough to have a disability – when you lose your benefits because you can only work a part-time job, it’s not fair! You’d be making the same amount of money as you were when you were at home sitting on the couch watching television all day. Where’s the incentive to go to work if you’re being punished, financially, through the removal of your benefits when you do contribute to society? When you go to work, you’re paying into your Social Security fund, just like everyone else. Why can’t you have that money back because of your disability?
If Patrick R. McElhiney ever becomes elected to a public office, he’s going to fight for the working class – and he’s going to fight for the sick, elderly, and disabled, with just as much passion – because it’s not fair that people have disabilities, and it's doubly not fair that they're being mistreated financially. It’s not Justice that the government wants to take away your benefits when you show improvement. That’s the reason we need good Democratic leadership in Washington, as well as in state and local governments. A vote for the working class is a vote for the disabled American – because we can design a system that benefits everyone by becoming a member of the Middle Class. There’s plenty of money in the world – we just need to restructure the government programs so that the people who need the government’s help the most, get the most help.
Patrick won’t forget about you – and you shouldn’t forget about Patrick. He’ll go to work to change the government programs so that they benefit everyone in a fair way – not just the upper class. Remember this when you go to vote! Spread the word about Patrick’s concepts. People need to engage in conversations about these issues – that’s how changes are made. If people don’t know how bad it is to be on disability benefits, nobody is going to listen to the change that the programs need in order to benefit you best. Be involved in your government, and keep an eye out for future candidates that support a progressive agenda to modernize Social Security for the elderly and disabled Americans.
Banning Cigarettes, Alcohol, and Other Harmful Purchases to Disability Benefits
Patrick R. McElhiney believes that cigarettes should be banned completely, because they lead to cancer that the poor can't afford to pay for. Smoking can be a form of a slow process of committing suicide. At a minimum, disability funds should not be allowed to be spent on cigarettes, alcohol, or other harmful products such as ultra-processed foods like white bread, cookies, ice cream, chips, candy, soda, and other products containing sweeteners like sugar and high fructose corn syrup that can lead to obesity and unhealthiness when consumed in high quantities. Cirrhosis of the liver has increased at a rate of 31% due to Americans endorsing alcoholism. It doesn't make any sense to give a disabled person money that they can spend on harmful substances that will further damage their health. If we allow this, we are allowing the creation of future expenses to the taxpayers because of this abusive use of disability benefits. There will be healthcare costs down the road associated with these types of abuses, such as liver transplants, cancer treatments, and heart attacks, which could lead to the death of the disabled person. These are very costly expenses, and they shouldn't be a burden to the American taxpayer.
Instead, we should provide more nutrition assistance programs that ensure that the disabled are getting the nutrients that they need to function properly. There are also a lot of people finding success in the sober curious trend, which substitutes non-alcoholic beverages that taste like alcoholic beverages without the health risks. More and more breweries and spirits producers are turning to provide non-alcoholic substitutes, and non-alcoholic bars are popping up all over the nation. There are also morning raves, which are entertaining events like regular raves, but held when it is light outside, where only non-alcoholic drinks are served. People have expressed an interest in alternatives to unhealthy behaviors such as alcoholism, smoking & vaping, and the consumption of unhealthy foods. Mental health providers and other healthcare-centered organizations that promote social behaviors among their patients should learn from these examples, and try to market healthy behaviors for all people, regardless of their abilities.
Ensuring That Social Security Benefits Aren't Fueling the Opioid Crisis
There have been cases where Social Security benefits have been used to buy street drugs, causing those beneficiaries of government benefits to go homeless. More needs to be done to ensure that Social Security benefits are going to specific authorized expenses, such as requiring receipts or purchase statements to be submitted by recipients. We shouldn't allow our government to throw fuel on the fire in regards to the opioid crisis, because giving cash benefits to drug addicts is just asking for trouble which will wind them up in prison, or in a recovery center that costs taxpayer money. The government should have a computer system that verifies what Social Security benefits are being spent on for each recipient, to ensure that there is no misuse occurring. We don't want the poor to be living in tents in public parks doing drugs - we want them to be maintaining their life and engaging in substantial gainful activity if possible.
Requiring That All Government Health Beneficiaries Receive Vaccinations
Patrick supports legislation that requires all government-provided healthcare beneficiaries, such as patients of Medicaid, Medicare, and the VA be required to receive all immunizations that they need to stay healthy, in order to ensure that the communities they live in stay healthy as well. The war against vaccines is a major public health crisis that needs to be dealt with using the powers of Congress. People that don't receive their vaccinations pose a risk to the health of others that haven't received vaccinations, either, and they risk unnecessary healthcare services being charged to the American taxpayer because of their irrational belief, or their opposition to vaccinations. We shouldn't allow government healthcare funds to be spent on patients refuse to be vaccinated - they should be required to be vaccinated, or they won't receive health benefits from the Federal Government.
Medicare For All
The "Medicare For All" proposals in Congress may not be the best route for the United States, because of problems that have been pointed out in other single payer healthcare systems around the world. For an example, in Canada, patients can end up waiting 6 months or more to get a MRI scan, and millions of Canadians travel to other countries every year to pay for healthcare services out of their pocket, because in a single-payer system, only the government would provide healthcare services, which means that there's no way to supersede the government's regulations. In single-payer healthcare systems, the younger generations of patients are prioritized for all healthcare services over the elderly, so the elderly may wait even longer to get their healthcare services, which at times can result in their death during the waiting period. Also, currently low-income and disabled patients that qualify have no payments to make towards their healthcare services. That could change in a single-payer healthcare system. It's unlikely that all healthcare services would be provided for free to the low-income and disabled, which may affect how much they have to pay for their prescriptions, and co-payments, and they may even have deductibles. None of that exists with Obamacare currently, and Patrick believes that Obamacare is working just fine the way it is. The push to continue to modernize our healthcare system may make it worse than it is.
Why do Republicans like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refer to it as "Medicare for None"? Do they really want to take away Medicare from the elderly?
