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SSI Recipient with Questions about EIP? SSA Has the Answers

Jul 30, 2021

The hugely accomplished and still yet to be fully acknowledged Scottish band, Belle and Sebastian, were once admonished by their record company for supplying less than catchy album titles. They duly followed up “The Boy with the Arab Strap” with “Fold Your Hands...

Vulnerable Population Liaisons: SSA’s New Community Partnership Scheme

Jul 23, 2021

Social Security recently announced that they have created a new position within their ranks. The Vulnerable Population Liaison (VPL) will act to ensure that those in the community that most need the financial support that SSI and SSDI provide will be prioritized and...

Is Medicare Set to Cover Dental, Health and Vision Care Services?

Jul 15, 2021

There is a truism in journalistic circles that has come to be known as Betteridge’s Law that any article which has a question in the title can easily be answered by a simple ‘no’. This may well be the case for this blog too, but the positive aspect is that 76 Members...

Remembrance of Earnings Past: Check with SSA on Your Full Work Record

Jul 9, 2021

While we wait for the IRS to allow us to see past earnings on a Benefits Planning Query (BPQY) once more we can rest assured that individuals are able to check and see how much they’ve made in the past and, more importantly, how much they’ve accrued towards SSA...

Reminder for Students Working This Summer: Don’t Forget the Student Earned Income Exclusion

Jul 2, 2021

The summer vacation is here again. While that will hopefully mean such fun things as a trip to the ocean and plenty of excuses for staying up late every night, there is also the opportunity for teens to pick up some valuable work experience. That might be either...

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SSA Reveals Service Plan during the Federal Government Shutdown

Social Security has issued a statement on its Advocates webpage highlighting the level of its availability during the government shutdown which went into effect today, October 1. Crucially, all SSI and SSDI payments will continue without change and on the same payment...

Oscillate Wildly: Changes to SSDI Overpayment Recovery Rates

It may have escaped your attention, as it did this writer’s, that on August 29 this year Social Security issued Emergency Message 25029 REV. Emergency Messages are the agency’s method of notifying every office of the new protocols to follow. This one’s purpose is to...

Tapping In: Maryland’s Assistive Technology Financial Loan Program

To judge from the figures presented in the 2024 review of Maryland Department of Disabilities’ Technical Assistance Program (MDTAP) there’s not much knowledge within the state of the program itself or any of its projects. MDTAP has provided the Assistive Technology...

Listen Up: Maryland DDA’s Low Intensity Support Services Program Accepting Applications

Maryland’s Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) has long understood the need to provide funding to children and adults in the community in order that they might lead happier and more fully integrated lives in the community. What was once called Rolling...

Social Security Turns 90!

To commemorate this landmark birthday, we've re-published the open letter from Frank Bisignano, the agency's current commissioner. Today, we celebrate the 90th anniversary of Social Security—a program that has stood as a pillarof economic security and dignity for...

Healthy Options? USDA Encouraging SNAP Food Restrictions

In further changes under the new administration (remarkably, it has only been seven months) the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Services are now actively seeking states to implement further restrictions on what you can buy with food...

As You Were: VCU’s National Training and Data Center Re-opens

Last week we reported that Virginia Commonwealth’s NTDC has been closed and all services terminated. This week Social Security announced that the center is open once more. Melanie Webb, the Branch Chief of SSA’s Employment Programs, sent out an n email to the nation’s...

VCU’s National Training and Data Center Closed Down

Benefits Counselors around the country received the news today that Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) was forced to close the National Training and Data Center (NTDC) on July 29. The brief announcement from Melanie Webb, Branch Chief of Employment Programs at...

Salt in the Wound: OBBBA and Cuts to Medicaid for Non- Citizens

Further to our recent blog on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and its plan to cut Medicaid funding, here’s some more bad news brought to you by your government. This time the target is Non-Citizens. At present there are some severe limitations to eligibility...

Stopped Check: SSA to Eliminate Paper Payments to Beneficiaries

These days if you are to order a new batch of checks you are given a choice of designs for the background and can even select a personal message line. You may notice, however, that the choices appear to skew towards appealing to an older demographic. One recent option...