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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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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...