A newly approved $1.7 trillion federal spending bill will bring more funding for special education while expanding access to ABLE accounts and addressing the use of electric shock on people with disabilities. The legislation, which funds the government through September, was

He had made it through four years of denials and appeals, and Robert Heard was finally before a Social Security judge who would decide whether he qualified for disability benefits. Two debilitating strokes had left the 47-year-old electrician with halting

There aren't any savings account limits if you're applying for Social Security Disability Insurance. To receive Supplemental Security Income, you can only have up to $2,000 in your name. You may keep up to $100,000 in an ABLE account

This subchapter, Failure to Cooperate and Insufficient Evidence (FTC), describes what adjudicators must do when a claimant does not comply with an initial request for evidence or action, or an initial notice of a consultative examination (CE) appointment. The instructions

What GAO Found COVID-19 prompted the Social Security Administration (SSA) to make dramatic changes in the way it delivers services and administers its programs. On March 17, 2020, SSA closed its offices to the public—providing limited in-person visits for individuals with

NORTH KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When additional medical evidence is needed to approve a disability benefits application with the Social Security Administration, the agency requires applicants to get a consultative exam with a doctor. In the Kansas City region, Midwest CES

Six months after reopening its field offices to the public, the Social Security Administration is struggling to restore basic customer services and is assisting millions fewer of the poor, elderly and disabled people who sought its help before the coronavirus

CHICAGO (Reuters) - People who had COVID-19 are at higher risk for a host of brain injuries a year later compared with people who were never infected by the coronavirus, a finding that could affect millions of Americans, U.S. researchers

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel is used to feeling like the only person in the country who still cares about COVID-19. He ignores the side-eye he gets for wearing an N95 mask at parties—a self-imposed policy that makes him “look odd” but kept

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After two months of sleeping in the Salvation Army Center of Hope homeless shelter, Margaret Davis has had no luck finding an apartment she can afford. The 55-year-old grandmother receives about $750 a month from the federal government.

On August 14, 1935 at 3:30 p.m., President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law one of the most consequential bills in the nation’s history, putting in place a set of programs to lift millions of Americans out of poverty. Eighty-seven years

In a Press Release issued on August 15, 2022, Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi announced the addition of 12 new Compassionate Allowances (CAL) conditions: Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma, Blastic Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Neoplasm, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker Disease, Microvillus Inclusion Disease – Child, Mowat-Wilson Syndrome, Myelodysplastic Syndrome with Excess Blasts, NUT Carcinoma, Pfeiffer

Revision Statement: This EM replaces the prior version issued on April 16, 2021. Summary of Changes:· In Section B., we provided information regarding long-term health effects following the acute phase of COVID-19, known as Long COVID. · In Section C.5., we

People who face long waits for service at the Social Security Administration’s field offices have had to contend with one more complication this summer — intense heat. That prompted leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee to send a letter to the

Social Security crossed a new milestone when it reached its 87th anniversary on Sunday. The program was signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Aug. 14, 1935. Today it provides monthly checks to more than 65 million beneficiaries. But it now

Washington, D.C. – A study released today by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows significant inconsistencies in the expedited appeals process for Social Security disability benefits, raising concerns that individuals facing homelessness or other emergencies may have faced dangerously long delays in

  July 26, 2022 Three U.S. Senators have written a letter to Kilolo Kiijakazi, acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, urging the department to improve its outreach to parents of children with disabilities who might be eligible for Supplemental Security

Social Security beneficiaries could see their 2023 cost-of-living adjustment hit double digits for the first time in more than four decades as inflation in the United States continues to spiral ever higher despite government efforts to rein it in. Based on Wednesday’s

Social Security beneficiaries will be in line to receive a record high cost-of-living adjustment in 2023 due to inflation. The question is exactly how high it may be. Based on new consumer price index data for June released Wednesday, The Senior Citizens League,

The acting Social Security commissioner will launch a "full investigation" on Monday of Inspector General Gail Ennis's oversight of an anti-fraud program that imposed extensive penalties on disabled and elderly people, a senior agency official said Saturday. The action follows a

Phone Problems Persistently Plague Public SSA’s outdated and overwhelmed telephone systems, and SSA’s attempts to unify and modernize them, continue to cause challenges for people attempting to contact the agency. One way that SSA has tried to avoid the server crashes that were occurring in February and

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Will a Child Tax Credit (CTC) payment affect my Supplemental Security Income (SSI) eligibility or payment amount? While the CTC is not considered disaster assistance under our rules, we do not consider the CTC as income and resources for 12 months for SSI purposes. Receiving

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A third of Covid-19 survivors suffer 'brain disease,' study shows - CNN

Disability claimants with borderline intellectual functioning (IQs between 71 and 84) can qualify for disability benefits and SSI. This is especially so if they have other impairments. Borderline intellectual functioning is a cognitive impairment resulting in lower than average intelligence, but

The article below answers some of the biggest questions around the third stimulus and how it relates to SSI & SSDI. https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/ssi-ssdi-and-third-stimulus-checks-qualifications-when-and-how-youll-get-your-payment/ SSA.gov Coronavirus

PTSD is a mental health disorder* that affects individuals who either experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as war combat, sexual assault, child abuse, car accident, or natural disaster. The condition can severely impact the sufferer causing, for example,

WHY? Your claim for SSI and/or SSDI has been denied by the Social Security Administration (SSA) at Initial Review, upon Reconsideration, before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), and by the highest administrative tribunal, the Appeals Council (AC).  You have exhausted all

Green & Greenberg is pleased and proud to announce our most recent hire, Jaqueline G. Barsamian, Esq., who will head up the Appeals Council and Federal Court Division at the firm. Jaqueline’s unique talents at the final administrative stage and

Check out all the latest Disability Benefits and SSI news related to the pandemic at Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) | SSA . One of the latest entries there lists as grounds for good cause for late filing of appeals the fact that Social

Multiple sclerosis (MS) involves an immune-mediated process in which an abnormal response of the body’s immune system is directed against the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS is made up of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. Within the CNS, the immune system

A number of clients have asked about Covid-19 as a basis for disability benefits or SSI. While most people recover from the virus after several weeks, some suffer more serious effects and ongoing impairments. Those with autoimmune diseases such as MS,

SSA updated its coronavirus website on November 6 to include new guidance for people whose disability benefits were terminated because of a Continuing Disability Review determination or age-18 redetermination. Those who submitted requests for reconsideration of the termination but did not elect statutory

In person hearings on claims for SSI and disability insurance benefits are currently postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means that many claimants require alternative ways for their claims to be heard as soon as possible. Until very recently,

In 1991, Rhode Island lawyers David Green and Moe Greenberg joined forces to represent claimants for Social Security Disability Benefits and SSI. Over more than twenty-five years, Green & Greenberg has won thousands of Rhode Island disability cases entitling its

Many individuals suffering from cancer wonder if they can receive Social Security Disability benefits. Fortunately, this is one of the most straightforward sections of the Listing of Impairments, or “Listings.” Listings are a kind of shortcut to disability. They allow

On November 18, 2019 the Social Security Administration published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking reducing the time between many Continuing Disability Reviews from three years to two years. According to a New York Times opinion piece from Jonathan M. Stein,

Your “onset date” is the date when you became disabled. In order to help you determine what onset date to allege, a Social Security Disability Attorney may ask you a series of questions to decide when you stopped being able to work on

The remand rate, the rate at which the Appeals Council returns cases to Administrative Law Judges based on claimant appeals, climbed in fiscal year 2019 to 14.56%, with exactly 21,000 cases remanded. This left more than 123,000 cases where the

After an investigation by the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General (SSA/OIG), it was found that since May 2011 SSA had underpaid SSI claimants approximately $95 million. In 28% of the cases where there was an underpayment, there

A new Commissioner of SSA, Andrew Saul, was sworn in on June 17, 2019. He is SSA’s first confirmed Commissioner since Michael Astrue stepped down more than six years ago. Unlike Nancy Berryhill, the Acting Commissioner he replaces, Commissioner Saul has no experience

According to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) fraud re-determination process violated the due process rights of many Social Security beneficiaries. In a well-publicized case, many medical opinions were thrown out by SSA because of

Is Social Security Going to Ask Me To Go To a Consultative Examination? A Consultative Examination (CE) is an exam ordered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to assess physical or psychiatric conditions. Reviewing recent statistics it is

Social Security Trustees Note Solvency through 2052 The Board of Trustees of the Social Security Administration (SSA) recently released its annual report on the state of the Social Security Trust Fund. According to this year’s report, the system can now pay

The US Supreme Court recently ruled on a case involving a longstanding rule out of the Seventh Circuit that required a vocational expert (VE) to

National Adjudication Team Begins On-The-Record Decisions After making zero attorney advisor decisions during Fiscal Year 2018, the National Adjudication Team began its work in November 2018 for Fiscal Year 2019. These Attorney Advisors are empowered to issue fully-favorable decisions on the

Social Security Congressional and Public Affairs Staff Shrinks  At the end of 2018, the Appeals Council’s Congressional and Public Affairs Branch lost another ombudsman to retirement. This leaves a single ombudsman in this office. A Social Security claims representative group has

SSA Starts Prehearing Review In an attempt to reduce hearing times, Social Security’s offices are starting to send some cases back to state agencies for additional reviews. These cases under the “Compassionate and Responsive Services” (“CARES”) initiative will receive an additional

A new Commissioner of Social Security was re-nominated for a six-year term in January 2019. Andrew Saul, who was previously nominated during the 115th Congress that ended in January, was re-nominated for the post during the 116th Congress. The term of

The Social Security Administration (SSA) follows a five step process in determining whether or not you are disabled. We have discussed step one and step two previously.  In this blog, we will discuss step three - Listed Impairments. SSA maintains a

In some circumstances, a claimant may seek disability benefits for a period of time during which he or she was working. While, generally, a person will be entitled to benefits if they are not engaging in substantial gainful activity, there