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Any Requests? Let MDBCN Know What’s on Your Mind

Dec 31, 2019

As is always the case the new year will bring with it some changes and the sense that more can be made. We know those new figures for work incentives such as the Trial Work Period and Substantial Gainful Activity heralded by Social Security back in October will now...

Social Security Proposing Changes to Continuing Disability Reviews

Dec 20, 2019

Citing a need to tighten up its efficiency in identifying medical improvement of those receiving SSI and SSDI the Social Security Administration recently published its proposal to make changes to its policy on conducting Continuing Disability Reviews (CDR). CDRs are...

Social Security to Extend Opening Hours

Dec 6, 2019

Social Security recently issued a press release that will bring, if not joy, then at least a little relief to its millions of customers. Back in 2012 the agency instituted a policy of closing to the public their field offices each Wednesday afternoon, but as of...

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...

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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...