Blog posts

Everyone who is up-to-date with Social Security news knows that the administration is in dire financial straits. Various government parties have been looking for ways to address the financial issues that the Social Security Administration is facing. Unfortunately, many of the proposed solutions have fallen short. The latest effort to cut Social Security by $750 million is no exception to this rule. Not only does it seem that this proposal will not address the financial issues the administration is facing, but may actually end up costing the Social Security Administration $6 billion.

The South Michigan Health Information Exchange (also known as SEMHIE) has announced that it has officially completed all of the required milestones necessary to provide e-Disability claim filing services to the Social Security Administration. What does this mean to Social Security Disability applicants? If the program works as intended, it may mean shorter claim periods and faster receipt of Social Security Disability benefits.

FERS is an acronym for the Federal Employees Retirement System. The system became an effective part of the benefits given to federal employees in 1987. There are three components of the FERS benefits program including the FERS basic benefit, the Social Security benefit and the thrift savings plan benefit. When an individual who has worked for the federal government becomes disabled and needs disability benefits to make ends meet, they often wonder how the FERS benefits are related to Social Security Disability benefits.

The goal of an administrative law judge is to determine whether or not an applicant who is appealing a denial of his or her Social Security Disability claim is actually entitled to the benefits that he or she is trying to get. As a part of this process, the administrative law judge must determine if there is any type of work that this applicant could perform in the national economy.

Nearly everyone has heard that the Social Security program is in a crisis. Without serious changes or reform, analysts are expecting the program to go bankrupt sometime in the near future. Exactly when that will happen (or even if it will happen) has been a topic of debate for quite some time. However, a recent report indicates that Social Security Disability benefits are expected to jump by 71 percent over the next ten years. What does this mean for this already-troubled program?

There is no doubt about it that the Social Security Disability hearing process can be a stressful endeavor. When a person is under stress it is not uncommon to forget that there are things that you wanted to mention to the administrative law judge who was hearing your case. In such situations an applicant may wonder if there is anything they can do to update their hearing testimony – especially if the information left out may be very important to the outcome of the case.

July is UV safety month and organizations around the nation are doing their part to inform the public about the dangers of UV light. What many people don’t realize is that no matter how much sunscreen you lather on, if you’re not protecting your eyes from those harmful UV rays you may be putting yourself at risk of a visual impairment. UV rays can harm your eyes just as easily as they can harm your skin and harm to your eyes can lead to drastic changes in your life.

When an individual passes away, their family is supposed to receive a one-time death benefit and then the Social Security payments stop. The SSA is supposed to record the deaths of these individuals to ensure that payments stop and that the proper federal agencies and private companies are notified so that families or other interested parties do not wrongly receive benefits after these individuals pass away.

On June 12th of this year it was announced that the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee approved a fiscal year 2013 bill that will provide the government with $158.8 billion in current year discretionary funding. Exactly what does this mean? That the government has more than $158 billion dollars to spend to improve programs to help American citizens. The question is what exactly does this mean for the Social Security Administration (SSA)?

Recent reports show that the unemployment rate for individuals who suffer from disabling conditions has dropped to an all-time low in more than three years. In addition, applications for SSDI benefits have continued to stabilize. While this seems like great news for individuals who suffer from disabilities, we must dig deeper in order to understand the true meaning behind these figures.