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Job Vacancy Announcement – Benefits Case Manager

Aug 4, 2017

Job Vacancy Announcement - Benefits Case Manager The Maryland Benefits Counseling Network is excited to announce that recruitment for a full-time contractual Benefits Case Manager position has begun! Please see the detailed position announcement below. Interested...

Social Security Administration 2017 Red Book

May 31, 2017

The Social Security Administration's Red Book is now available for 2017!The Red Book (SSA Publication No. 64-030) serves as a general guide to Social Security work incentives and employment supports of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental...

Maryland’s 2017 1619(b) Threshold decreases from 2016.

Feb 19, 2017

This is the second year in a row the 1619(b) threshold has fallen for Maryland residents. The 2017 1619(b) threshold is $40,005 per year. See the following Social Security Policy link for more information. https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0502302200

CMS Announces 2017 Medicare Part A & Part B Changes

Nov 14, 2016

Although premiums and deductibles for Medicare Part A & B won't be changing for approximately 70% of beneficiaries there will be some changes for the remaining 30%. Please see the press release on the CMS website for more information. ...

Social Security Announces 2017 COLA Changes

Oct 18, 2016

Social Security has announcement the Cost of Living Adjustment changes for 2017. There will be a 0.3% increase in benefits, an increase in the TWP & SGA levels and an increase in the SSI Federal Benefit Rate. See the following fact sheet for more details....

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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...