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SSA Overpayments? Go On-line to Pay Them Off

May 13, 2021

Included in a newly updated Social Security publication on overpayments was a two-line addition recording a new option for paying the agency back. Yes, you can now clear your debt on-line by going here https://www.pay.gov/public/form/start/834689469 Once there you'll...

Spotlight on Homelessness and Social Security

May 7, 2021

Yvonne Perret, the Maryland-based founder of the SSI/SSDI Outreach Access and Recovery (SOAR) program recently published a blog on Social Security's website that is well worth the read. The blog shares some factual insights into the challenges faced by homeless...

Social Security Looking for Feedback to Move Forward

Apr 30, 2021

Under the regulations of 2018's Evidence Act the Social Security Administration, as a federal agency, is required to seek public input into how they are doing and as to how they can improve policies and procedures. The SSA has put out a request for information from...

SSA’s New Webpage Looks to Help Those Helping Others

Apr 23, 2021

A recent press release by the Social Security Administration announced the creation of a new webpage dubbed "People Helping Others" that will serve as the hub for all manner of questions regarding SSA and SSI benefits. The page is primarily addressed to those in the...

Updated BPQY Handbook Released

Apr 16, 2021

In what would seem a confirmation of long term plans regarding the new BPQY (Benefits Planning Query) and the deletion of the IRS records(see the March 26, 2021 blog for more details) Social Security has published a 2021 edition of the BPQY Handbook. This year's...

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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...

Uncivil Service: OBBBA and Medicaid Work Requirements

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that was recently signed into law by the current incumbent in the White House has within its hundreds of provisions a number of cuts to Medicaid funding under the pretext that there’s vast and widespread fraud and cheating going...