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SNAP Happy: An Update for Food Stamp Recipients

Feb 4, 2021

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has had a few significant updates in recent weeks and they are positive for food stamp recipients in Maryland and around the country. It was just over a year ago, on January 27, 2020, that a public health emergency...

New Federal Poverty Levels Published

Jan 20, 2021

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) had announced the 2021 Federal Poverty Levels. The new figures show a slight increase on 2020. Whereas in 2020 it was determined that the FPL for a household of one was $12,760, it has now risen slightly to...

2021’s 1619(b) Thresholds Announced

Jan 5, 2021

Social Security is on the ball this year and has already announced the new threshold figures for the 1619(b) SSI work incentive. 1619(b), so-called as that is the section of the Social Security Act that defines the terms, allows working SSI beneficiaries to maintain...

Happy Holidays from the Maryland Benefits Counseling Network!

Dec 22, 2020

It’s been quite the year but all of us here at the Maryland Benefits Counseling Network (MDBCN) wish you and yours the very happiest of holiday breaks. The new year promises still a few challenges but as we look forward to the next twelve months and beyond there is...

Happy Holidays from the Maryland Benefits Counseling Network!

Dec 22, 2020

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Working Works: It’s Still National Disability Employment Awareness Month

One would like to imagine that it was a failing of this writer's observational powers rather than the lack of promotional ability of the organizers that, but for a fruitless quest for HP sauce* at a local Wegman’s I would not have known that this rapidly diminishing...

COLAs for 2027 Announced!

Social Security published its 2027 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) earlier this week. As is almost invariably the case monthly benefit payments will be higher, this year to the tune of 3.6%. For SSI recipients it means that the Federal Benefit Rate (FBR) will rise...

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...