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1619(B) Threshold for 2022 Announced

Dec 17, 2021

Unlike the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) there is little uniformity in when the new year’s 1619(b) thresholds are published, but this year Social Security have jumped the gun and have already posted the 1619(b) thresholds for 2022. Continued Medicaid Eligibility...

Child Tax Credit Now Available to More Families

Dec 13, 2021

One aspect of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 was the expansion of Child Tax Credit, which meant that more families with children were eligible to receive monthly funds. Some months on from the implementation of the new funding there are likely to be many...

Need Help Accessing Local Services? Social Security Have the Answers

Dec 3, 2021

The Social Security Administration has been touting its on-line services for quite some time now and with a good level of determination as regular readers of their weekly blog would not have failed to notice. One development in recent months was the creation of the...

Social Security Offices May Re-open in January

Nov 29, 2021

The Social Security Administration recently revealed a plan to require their staff to return to offices around the country starting as early as January 3 next year. The timing of the plan may turn out to be rather unfortunate as it was unveiled shortly before the...

2022 Medicare Costs Announced

Nov 19, 2021

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published the new premium, coinsurance and deductible amounts for Medicare Parts A and B. Although unsurprising given the large increase in Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) announced by Social Security,...

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In Exile: Impending Medicaid Eligibility Denials for Non-Citizens

Emma Lazarus’ 1883 sonnet ‘The New Colossus’ was written in the same year that she established in New York the Society for the Improvement and Colonization of East European Jews; an organization designed to provide aid to refugees escaping antisemitic violence and...

Education Matters: Maintaining Child’s Benefits at 18

Much to the dismay of students and teachers, another summer vacation has come and gone and one must again spend those long hours in the classroom looking wistfully out of the window as someone whitters on about some nonsense or other. For a small but significant...

In The Loop: SSA Changes Policy on Re-routing Calls

As anyone who has been obliged to call Social Security knows, the wait time has been prohibitively long. In the last year of the Biden administration the average wait was 60 minutes, which was bad enough, but in 2025 under the present regime that had increased to a...

An August Occasion: Celebrating National ABLE Savings Day

This year August 14 marks, amongst other notable events, the 236th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Väräla which brought about an end to the Russo-Swedish War; exactly 124 years later the arrival of British Expeditionary Force in France saw the beginning of...

Priority Treatment: SSA Adds to the Compassionate Allowance List

A fresh press release from Social Security will provide some good news to potential beneficiaries who experience a range of disabilities. Fourteen relatively obscure conditions have been added to the agency’s Compassionate Allowance policy. The policy allows Social...

Won’t Get Food Again: SNAP Eligibility in Decline

Recent articles in The Atlantic and by NPR have highlighted the growing concern in the reduction in the number of food stamp beneficiaries over the past year. The current figure, as estimated by the Department of Agriculture, stands at around 37 million recipients,...

Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Social Security Adds New Features to MySSA Accounts

A recent press release from Social Security looked to encourage applicants who have found themselves having to appeal a denial to use a My Social Security account when working through that process. Evidently very keen on getting you on board, the agency has produced a...

Summer Break: Maryland’s SUN Bucks Program

Originally launched by Governor Wes Brown back in 2024 Maryland’s Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program, which trades under the SUN Bucks title, is back for another year. SUN Bucks is the state’s provision to allow eligible families with children aged between 5...

Food Security: New EBT Cards Coming Soon!

Maryland’s Department of Human Resources announced last week that they would be rolling out new Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards as part of a modernization plan designed to ward off food stamp thievery. The new cards will have the same capabilities as regular...

No Going Back: Medicaid Retroactive Eligibility Span Reduced

The Budget Reconciliation Act of 2025 has provided this blog with a seemingly ceaseless font of bad news stories. Here’s another one. Currently someone applying for Medicaid can get retroactive coverage for up to three months prior to the date of application as long...