Nearly two years ago Social Security published revisions to the rule regarding the evaluation of medical evidence in a disability case, which relied less on the opinion of a claimant’s medical provider, so that the persuasiveness of medical evidence is considered rather than the opinion of the doctor who treats and knows the claimant best…. Read more »
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How Social Security Opponents Have Used The Term Entitlement To Their Benefit
The word entitlement or entitled is not an attractive word and politicians who deep down want to cut Social Security disability or retirement benefits use the word entitlement to describe Social Security or Medicare as a wedge making some people feel like the benefits are not earned. If you search “entitled definition” on Google the… Read more »
OIG Identifies Factors Affecting SSA Wait Times
The Office of Inspector General (OIG), which oversees the operation of the Social Security Administration, analyzed the key factors as to why Social Security customers have to wait so long for service. According information from the OIGs website, your average Social Security customer had to wait about 25 minutes before a Social Security employee could… Read more »
What Will Happen To Saul’s Nomination To Lead Social Security?
President Donald Trump’s choice to lead Social Security, Andrew Saul, still has yet to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The nomination of Saul, to a term that ends January 20, 2019, could be upheld until the term actually expires. Considering the holidays are approaching and a new Congress takes over at the beginning of… Read more »
Social Security Closed December 24
If you had plans to contact Social Security December 24 you better change them. Although Christmas Eve falls on a Monday, Social Security will not be open for business by orders of President Donald Trump who issued the executive order December 18. All federal offices will be closed December 24, excusing employees from work. The… Read more »
What The New Chief Of Staff Means For Social Security
President Donald Trump recently named White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as his acting chief of staff come next year, which seemingly does not bode well for Social Security, especially the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. In an article in The Washington Post from April 7, 2017 Mulvaney made it quite clear that he… Read more »
How The Economy Impacts Disability Claims
The National Bureau of Economic Research recently released a paper examining the effect of economic conditions on the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program after examining the recession we experienced about 10 years ago. The authors of this paper deducted that nearly 1 million SSDI applications were filed during the recession that otherwise would not… Read more »
The First Social Security Program Goes Back To The Civil War
Considering Social Security is more than 80 years old, we periodically like to go back and look at how the different programs have evolved through the years. Although Social Security originated in the 1930s, there were programs around previous to this that provided benefits and security to Americans. Maybe the first instance of this was… Read more »
The Latest With Social Security
We realize it may be a stretch for ordinary people to want to keep up with the comings and goings of the Social Security Administration, but sometimes circumstances permit where someone does want to follow the latest news regarding the agency due to a possible retirement or disability interest. This blog is an ongoing piecemeal… Read more »
Looking Back To 1983
The last time the Social Security trust funds were in imminent danger of being insolvent was 1983. We are once again faced with the idea of reduced benefits in 15 years or so unless there is some sort of compromise in Congress to change the trajectory of the trust funds, similar to what happened in… Read more »
