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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...

The Quick Fix: A Passing Word on Temporary Cash Assistance

Jun 25, 2021

As was mentioned in last week's blog on food stamps, the lifting of Maryland's state of emergency will mean that the temporary increases in allotments will soon be going away. That is also the case for another needs based program that's been operating under the title...

SNAP Decisions: Updates on Food Stamp Allocation

Jun 18, 2021

Maryland's Governor Hogan announced this week that the state of emergency that has been in place since March 2020 will be lifted as of July 1. While that means that there's no longer a need for all those masks and the social distancing it does also mean that changes...

Advanced Planning: Selecting A Representative Payee Just In Case

Jun 11, 2021

It's an option that's been around for over a year now, but it's certainly worth mentioning that Social Security allows beneficiaries to submit an Advance Designation of Representative Payee. The Advance Designation allows you to make choices now, while you're fit and...

Over 55, Working and Blind? Here’s an SSDI Rule Just For You

Jun 3, 2021

Individuals who are blind have been treated with special consideration by Social Security since the creation of the disability program in 1954. If someone meets the statutory blindness criteria, has limited work history, income and resources they will qualify for SSI...

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Goodnight, Virginia: SSA Closes VCU’s National Training Center

It was announced last Monday that the WIPA National Training and Data Center, would be shut down with immediate effect. The NTC, which was under the auspices of Virginia Commonwealth University, has been a primary source of training, education and support of Work...

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...