Despite what you may have seen on television or read online, Social Security disability is not a program where fraud is running rampant where non-disabled workers are collecting checks that are costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars every year. To the contrary, there appears to be very little fraud within the Social Security disability program,… Read more »
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Work Incentives For People Who Receive Disability Insurance Benefits
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has created special rules to encourage recipients of Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB) to return to work. In order to be eligible to receive DIB benefits you must have a medical impairment(s) that prevents you from maintaining substantial gainful employment (SGA) for at least 12 months. In 2013, the SSA values… Read more »
ALJs Sue to Decrease Workload
Administrative Law Judges have banned together to sue the Social Security Administration because ALJs are expected to decide as many as 700 disability claims a year, which has resulted in rushed decisions and possibly even improper decisions that may have cost taxpayers millions of dollars. “The Social Security Administration seems to care only about quotas,”… Read more »
I expedited my hearing request, why is my hearing still three months out?
If someone is in imminent danger of losing shelter, not being able to obtain food or medicine, imminent danger of death, or actively suicidal or homicidal as a result of their conditions, they may be eligible to have their hearing request expedited. The average wait time is around 12-15 months for a hearing, after the… Read more »
What Happens if My SSI Payments Stop?
There may be no more unsettling letter to receive than a Social Security notice indicating that your Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments will be stopped. This type of letter can arrive for a variety of reasons, but the main reasons are for earning too much income or Social Security determines that you are no longer… Read more »
How Long Will That Take?
When assisting Social Security disability applicants a frequent question is “how long will that take?” Not only is the question asked frequently by the majority of applicants, but it is asked multiple times by the same applicant. The reason this is the case is because there is a lot of waiting time involved with either… Read more »
A Closer Look Inside The Social Security Administration
Most people realize that the Social Security Administration provides disability and retirement payments to millions of Americans every year, but few people have any idea how the agency is organized. In all, Social Security has more than 1,400 offices across the country and has a presence in United States embassies all over the world. At… Read more »
What Is Interim Assistance Related To SSI?
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 »
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 »
Social Security Extends Access to Benefit Verification Letters
In a recent press release issued on July 17, 2014, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announces that it will continue to provide benefit verification letters at the local field offices. The SSA has started providing many services online in recent years; however, the SSA has decided that this service will continue to be provided at… Read more »
