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2020 Medicare Premium and Deductible Figures Are In!

Nov 15, 2019

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the new figures for Medicare Part B premiums, deductibles and co-insurance that beneficiaries will have to pay. There have been small increases in both payments. The standard Part B premium will now...

Cover Your Eyes: A Peak at the Grisly State of Poverty and Disability Supports in the 1800s

Nov 1, 2019

A popular song of the 1840s relates the sorry tale of “The Workhouse Boy”. The poor unfortunate disappears one December evening and cannot be found even after his fellow inmates have been sent to search for him: “Ve sought in each corner each crevice ve knew/ Ve...

2020 Social Security COLAs Announced!

Oct 17, 2019

In line with past years Social Security has announced their Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) changes a few months before they take effect. Next year beneficiaries will see a 1.6% increase in their benefit amount. This means that full SSI amount for an individual will...

CMS Announces New Medicare Plan Finder

Sep 20, 2019

In readiness for the new Medicare open enrollment season The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that is has updated its website to make its most visited page more user-friendly. In keeping with the times you can now access the page on any...

Equifax Data Breach: Were You Affected?

Sep 5, 2019

In September 2017 Equifax, the consumer credit reporting agency, admitted that it had suffered a cyber-security breach of its system which had compromised the personal data of some 147 million customers in the United States alone. That translates to roughly 1 in 3...

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Forking Out: SNAP Updates and Maryland’s Response

It is now widely known that it is forty-two million Americans who receive SNAP benefits, still also known as food stamps. They remain at the mercy of a government, which has remained shut down for thirty-seven days at the time of writing, and shows no sign of opening...

SSA Announces 2026 COLAs

2026’s Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) was recently published and there are some limited but welcome increases across the board. Benefits are due to go up 2.8%. In terms of how that looks to SSI recipients, it means that the Federal Benefit Rate (FBR) will rise to...

SSA Reveals Service Plan during the Federal Government Shutdown

Social Security has issued a statement on its Advocates webpage highlighting the level of its availability during the government shutdown which went into effect today, October 1. Crucially, all SSI and SSDI payments will continue without change and on the same payment...

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...