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Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Made Better Yet

Jul 26, 2018

There has been a quite notable change to the ABLE program in Maryland, which actually came into effect on June 1 of this year. The change was designed to be more generous to beneficiaries and goes further than federal regulations in taking consumers’ needs into...

All About EID: Seeking Feedback on Your Experience

Jul 20, 2018

If you are currently enrolled in or have had experience applying for Maryland's Employed Individuals with Disabilities (EID) program, please consider taking a moment to fill out a survey and provide feedback about your experience - positive or negative. Willing to...

Wage Reporting: Now with Automatic Reminders

Jul 3, 2018

In a further update to the new wage reporting options, Social Security is now offering beneficiaries the chance to opt in for an automatic reminder to report their wages. It doesn't matter which method anyone uses to report their wages, be it by mobile app, phone...

2018 1619b Threshold Amounts Announced!

Jun 26, 2018

It has been a long while coming, but Social Security have just announced the 2018 threshold amounts for 1619b and in Maryland it has increased from $40,005 to $40,365. For a full list of those changes and for some more information on 1619b please have a look...

Breaking News! On-line Wage Reporting Now Available to SSI Recipients

Jun 11, 2018

It was not too long ago that any working SSI beneficiary had quite limited and decidedly 20th century methods for reporting his earnings to Social Security. Those options expanded with the introduction of the automated Telephone Wage Reporting system (SSITWR) and the...

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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...