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Just Like Starting Over: Expedited Reinstatement and the Initial Reinstatement Period

Feb 20, 2018

It might seem that once someone has worked herself off benefits it would be quite the challenge to get them back again, but, under certain circumstances, it is easier to resume eligibility than it is for those seeking benefits for the first time. This is all thanks to...

Total and Permanent Disability Discharge: True Student Loan Forgiveness

Feb 13, 2018

In 2015 the Student Aid Bill of Rights included plans to make paying for higher education easier for more Americans. As part of that plan the Department of Education teamed up with the Social Security Administration to identify Social Security beneficiaries who would...

A Few Words on Social Security’s Acronyms

Feb 7, 2018

Many of us have now heard of the story of the aged aunt who means to send ‘lots of love’ but instead ‘laughs out loud’ at the news of the death of a loved one. The LOL snafu has hopefully finally been universally resolved but there is no denying that the acronym...

Those Golden Years: Earned Income and Retirement Benefits

Jan 31, 2018

As we enter our sixties there hovers on the near horizon both the haven and the challenge of retirement. For all of us, current SSI/SSDI beneficiaries or not, there are also some quite novel regulations with regard to how Social Security treats us and our earned...

Maryland Employment Network Website Has Arrived!

Jan 23, 2018

We are delighted to be able to announce the launch of the new Maryland Employment Network (MD-EN) website! Job seekers, this new-look site will help you learn all about MD-EN, their team of vocational rehabilitation partners, and how they can work with you to achieve...

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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...

Salt in the Wound: OBBBA and Cuts to Medicaid for Non- Citizens

Further to our recent blog on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and its plan to cut Medicaid funding, here’s some more bad news brought to you by your government. This time the target is Non-Citizens. At present there are some severe limitations to eligibility...

Stopped Check: SSA to Eliminate Paper Payments to Beneficiaries

These days if you are to order a new batch of checks you are given a choice of designs for the background and can even select a personal message line. You may notice, however, that the choices appear to skew towards appealing to an older demographic. One recent option...

Uncivil Service: OBBBA and Medicaid Work Requirements

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that was recently signed into law by the current incumbent in the White House has within its hundreds of provisions a number of cuts to Medicaid funding under the pretext that there’s vast and widespread fraud and cheating going...