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WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder?
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What a crock! This crook is receiving worker's comp for bipolar disorder and depression.

Records from former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr's divorce case show how he has been able to collect hefty benefit checks from the federal government after serving time in prison for looting hundreds of thousands of dollars from his campaign fund.

Jackson, 51, receives about $138,400 a year — more than he made as a freshman congressman in 1995. Most of that — about $100,000 — is workers' compensation and tax-free, according to Chicago attorney Barry Schatz, who is representing Jackson in his divorce proceeding.

The payments flow to Jackson because he has bipolar disorder and depression — the issues that led to an extended leave from Congress in 2012 — and those conditions have been exacerbated by a "very difficult, contentious divorce" from former Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson, Schatz said.

Jackson, a Chicago Democrat, spent 17 years in Congress before resigning while under FBI investigation. He pleaded guilty in 2013 to using about $750,000 in campaign cash over several years for vacations, luxury goods, celebrity memorabilia and other items. At the time he resigned in late November 2012, he was being paid $174,000 a year.

Before quitting, Jackson had taken a leave for treatment for bipolar disorder and depression. Jackson's workers' compensation benefit statement gives June 1, 2012, as his "date of injury." Yet he cast 72 separate roll-call votes in the House of Representatives from June 1 to 8, 2012, not missing a single vote, House records show. Later that month, his office said he was on a leave of absence and being treated for what at first was called "exhaustion."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...-20170222-story.html






Last edited by: rick_pcfl: Feb 23, 17 6:18
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
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You're racist.

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
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I bet he has one of those handicap mirror hangers for his car too.
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
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It's no wonder politicians fight so hard to stay in power.

To be fair though, the article does say that he has to have "his health checked more than once a year or more, and should it improve, the benefits might change.

Those are pretty tough conditions to meet.
Last edited by: Sanuk: Feb 23, 17 9:38
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
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So basically he makes more than what 2/3 of Americans with a workers compensation claim?

Paging Panera boy... how does bipolar disorder make one eligible for the claim, it's not a work created injury. Same question for the depression.
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [windywave] [ In reply to ]
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To be fair, I would probably get depression too if I had to spend $750,000 of other peoples money on whatever the heck I wanted.
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [windywave] [ In reply to ]
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In my jurisdiction workers comp claims for mental illness are usually rejected automatically. Most appeals of this are lost or so drawn out that the process makes the worker depressed. Provincial gov't recently passed a law stating first line providers have to be covered for PTSD. Predictably now all sorts of additional groups are being asked to be designated as first line providers.

windywave wrote:
So basically he makes more than what 2/3 of Americans with a workers compensation claim?

Paging Panera boy... how does bipolar disorder make one eligible for the claim, it's not a work created injury. Same question for the depression.

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
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There once was a guy named Jesse,
Whose divorce case turned out to be messy.
But he doesn’t care,
'Cause his government checks will still be there,
For him to go looking for more p***y.
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
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Is he being drug tested?

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." Jimi Hendrix
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [windywave] [ In reply to ]
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windywave wrote:
So basically he makes more than what 2/3 of Americans with a workers compensation claim?

Paging Panera boy... how does bipolar disorder make one eligible for the claim, it's not a work created injury. Same question for the depression.

I'm curious about that too because my thinking matches this person's:

Ari Wilkenfeld, a Washington employment lawyer who has handled dozens of disability cases, said it would be highly unusual to collect federal workers' compensation for bipolar disorder. He said he knew of no other such cases and that his firm, Wilkenfeld, Herendeen & Atkinson, often represents federal employees.
"What's remarkable here is by his getting workers' comp, it appears that Congressman Jackson's attorneys have convinced the government that his bipolar disorder was created by the rigors of being a member of Congress," Wilkenfeld said.

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
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People in congress get some good benefits. Do you expect him to take less than he is entitled to?

Remember Senator McCain is receiving 100% disability benefits. Wouldn't 100% disability mean he can't work at all? I think McCain makes a pretty good salary plus was fit enough to run for president and hiked the Grand Canyon on vacation. Because of his permanent injuries from being tortured while a prisoner of war I agree that he deserves disability benefits but there are soldiers who have lost limbs who don't receive 100%.
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [outerlimit] [ In reply to ]
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As with all situations like this, the answer is that those in power get special privileges and carve-outs. Always have and always will. The key, to me, is limiting it as much as possible because fuck those in power, they already make very good money and have lifetime pensions. Being a congresscritter should be far less lucrative than it is, imo, and we should have term limits. The quality of those willing to run will go down but that doesn't bother me at all, I'd rather have a bunch of dumbasses who are neutered than a bunch of reasonably intelligent snake oil salesmen with vast powers.
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [windywave] [ In reply to ]
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windywave wrote:
So basically he makes more than what 2/3 of Americans with a workers compensation claim?

Paging Panera boy... how does bipolar disorder make one eligible for the claim, it's not a work created injury. Same question for the depression.

My sister is bipolar can she get $100k a year?
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [Perseus] [ In reply to ]
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Perseus wrote:

My sister is bipolar can she get $100k a year?

Has she broken any federal campaign finance laws? If not, she probably isn't eligible.
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [outerlimit] [ In reply to ]
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outerlimit wrote:
...there are soldiers who have lost limbs who don't receive 100%.

Is that true? I don't know much about disability but it seems like it should be automatic that you receive the maximum possible benefit if you lose a limb in the line of duty.
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
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rick_pcfl wrote:
Perseus wrote:


My sister is bipolar can she get $100k a year?


Has she broken any federal campaign finance laws? If not, she probably isn't eligible.

You sir win the internet for today
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [GreenPlease] [ In reply to ]
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GreenPlease wrote:
rick_pcfl wrote:
Perseus wrote:


My sister is bipolar can she get $100k a year?


Has she broken any federal campaign finance laws? If not, she probably isn't eligible.


You sir win the internet for today

Agreed
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [Brownie28] [ In reply to ]
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Brownie28 wrote:
As with all situations like this, the answer is that those in power get special privileges and carve-outs. Always have and always will. The key, to me, is limiting it as much as possible because fuck those in power, they already make very good money and have lifetime pensions. Being a congresscritter should be far less lucrative than it is, imo, and we should have term limits. The quality of those willing to run will go down but that doesn't bother me at all, I'd rather have a bunch of dumbasses who are neutered than a bunch of reasonably intelligent snake oil salesmen with vast powers.

+1. And there should be a special horrible type of death penalty for elected officials that misuse their office. I am so done with this type of crap.

"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [outerlimit] [ In reply to ]
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outerlimit wrote:
People in congress get some good benefits. Do you expect him to take less than he is entitled to?

Remember Senator McCain is receiving 100% disability benefits. Wouldn't 100% disability mean he can't work at all? I think McCain makes a pretty good salary plus was fit enough to run for president and hiked the Grand Canyon on vacation. Because of his permanent injuries from being tortured while a prisoner of war I agree that he deserves disability benefits but there are soldiers who have lost limbs who don't receive 100%.

That's not how it works. At least not for veterans. For veterans, you file for disability rating for whatever your particular issue is. For each thing, there is a percentage rating based on the issue and the severity. If you have multiple disabilities, they are combined based on a formula that gives an overall rating. 100% doesn't mean you're 100% disabled. It means you have enough disabilities that they combine to get a 100% rating which sets the amount of disability pay you get.

http://www.nolo.com/...ns-disabilities.html

Amputation ratings don't necessarily get you a 100% disability rating. For example, a full arm amputation gets 90% rating for that specific disability.

http://www.militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/amputations.html

John McCain likely has a whole slew of individual disabilities that add up to 100% if that is indeed his rating. It has nothing to do with whether he can work or not. It has to do with the VA rating scale to compensate veterans for disabilities they incurred as a result of serving their country. It's not worker's comp.

Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [Runningwithbees] [ In reply to ]
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Runningwithbees wrote:
To be fair, I would probably get depression too if I had to spend $750,000 of other peoples money on whatever the heck I wanted.

LoL
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [outerlimit] [ In reply to ]
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outerlimit wrote:
People in congress get some good benefits. Do you expect him to take less than he is entitled to?

Remember Senator McCain is receiving 100% disability benefits. Wouldn't 100% disability mean he can't work at all? I think McCain makes a pretty good salary plus was fit enough to run for president and hiked the Grand Canyon on vacation. Because of his permanent injuries from being tortured while a prisoner of war I agree that he deserves disability benefits but there are soldiers who have lost limbs who don't receive 100%.

Terrible choice for a comparison. Your problem should be the last sentence.


~
"You lie!" The Prophet Joe Wilson
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Re: WTF America? Jesse Jackson Jr. receives 138k a year for bipolar disorder? [slowguy] [ In reply to ]
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slowguy wrote:
outerlimit wrote:
People in congress get some good benefits. Do you expect him to take less than he is entitled to?

Remember Senator McCain is receiving 100% disability benefits. Wouldn't 100% disability mean he can't work at all? I think McCain makes a pretty good salary plus was fit enough to run for president and hiked the Grand Canyon on vacation. Because of his permanent injuries from being tortured while a prisoner of war I agree that he deserves disability benefits but there are soldiers who have lost limbs who don't receive 100%.


That's not how it works. At least not for veterans. For veterans, you file for disability rating for whatever your particular issue is. For each thing, there is a percentage rating based on the issue and the severity. If you have multiple disabilities, they are combined based on a formula that gives an overall rating. 100% doesn't mean you're 100% disabled. It means you have enough disabilities that they combine to get a 100% rating which sets the amount of disability pay you get.

http://www.nolo.com/...ns-disabilities.html

Amputation ratings don't necessarily get you a 100% disability rating. For example, a full arm amputation gets 90% rating for that specific disability.

http://www.militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/amputations.html

John McCain likely has a whole slew of individual disabilities that add up to 100% if that is indeed his rating. It has nothing to do with whether he can work or not . It has to do with the VA rating scale to compensate veterans for disabilities they incurred as a result of serving their country. It's not worker's comp.



It is worth noting that any mental illness rating is based on how the impairments/symptoms of the disorder impact the Veteran's ability to function in two areas - socially and vocationally, so whether one can work may in fact determine the rating/amount of compensation. My guess is that many POWs will have a PTSD rating where the percentage and resulting compensation is determined exclusively on one ability to function socially or vocationally. While it may be less than a 100% for some, even if 30%, the ability to work would be part and parcel to the total rating.


Last edited by: JeffJ: Feb 24, 17 13:03
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