Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a needs-based program for disabled individuals with low income and asset thresholds. The program should not be confused with Interim Assistance, which is public assistance from the state and not the Social Security Administration, but many times an applicant for one these programs ends up being eligible for the other…. Read more »
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How Would Seniors React To 20 Percent Reduction In Benefits?
As disability representatives we continue to monitor the impending Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) shortfall and will continue to do so until there is some resolution to the problem. Estimates are that the disability trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits to disabled workers by sometime late next year. This will result in… Read more »
Social Security Disability And Mental Health
There seems to be a perception that a disability is something that has to be seen otherwise maybe it is not a disability at all. Certain types of physical disabilities are easy to see, such as a person in a wheelchair who is unable to walk, a person who needs a device such as a… Read more »
Rand Paul Attacks Social Security Disability Again
If by some small chance Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky’s Tea Party darling, somehow wins the Republican nomination in 2016 in his bid for the White House, disability advocates should be shaking in their boots as Paul has indicated he wants to cut benefits to the program to make it sustainable. Imagine the notion of balancing… Read more »
How long do I have to wait for the Judge’s decision?
There are no definitive answers to this question. However, it generally takes the Administrative Law Judge (and his team) one to three months from the date of your hearing to issue a hearing decision. Keep in mind that the hearing decision is a long letter (typically 10-20 pages) that explains the rationale behind the Judge’s… Read more »
Is The Solution To Merge Social Security Disability And Retirement?
We have heard continuous talk about the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) trust fund running out of money by 2016 in which those receiving benefits, who are unable to work, would see about a 20 percent cut in benefits. Although no one would claim that the Democrats are perfect, it remains a fact that the… Read more »
Social Security Disability Benefits for Terminal Illness (TERI)
To combat the backlog of nearly 700,000 claims and counting that are waiting for a hearing before the Social Security Administration (SSA), the federal agency has launched a number of initiatives to expedite Social Security Disability Insurance benefits to thousands of individuals. The requirements for disability benefits for a person with a terminal illness are… Read more »
How Many Republicans View Social Security Disability
It is not a secret for how Republicans in Congress and some Republican presidential contenders in 2016 feel about the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. Republicans have already announced they want changes to the program because there is too much “fraud” within the system and they question whether if many on disability are just… Read more »
State to State Social Security Process Can Be Different
As if the Social Security disability process wasn’t confusing enough, the federal agency, for some time now, has operated differently in deciding disability claims depending on which state a claimant lives in. This doesn’t sound logical, considering Social Security disability is a federal program, but it is true. The standards in which Social Security makes… Read more »
The Appeals Council Process
We have talked many times about the Social Security disability process from the initial application stage to a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), but we don’t often talk about something that may come after the ALJ hearing, the Appeals Council. Many people have misinformation or no information about what the Appeals Council’s function… Read more »
