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Needs Improvement: Medical Continuing Disability Reviews

Apr 27, 2018

One of the great incentives of the Ticket to Work is that if you have your ticket assigned and if you’re making what Social Security terms ‘timely progress’ you are absolved of having to undergo the chore, infrequent though it may be, of the Medical Continuing...

A Rite of Passage: The SSI Age-18 Redetermination

Apr 11, 2018

There are quite a few milestones along the way as we get older but reaching the age of 18 has come to be a point when you can really acknowledge that you aren’t a child anymore. Of course, you’re not allowed to do everything (notwithstanding the laws on drinking,...

The Student Earned Income Exclusion: Appealing to Working Youth

Mar 30, 2018

There can be little dispute that the Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE) is one of the more generous work incentives devised by the Social Security Administration. As is the nature of all good deals, it’s only actually available to a relatively small percentage of...

New Medicare Cards are Coming Soon!

Mar 1, 2018

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has made changes to the Medicare card and it’s on its way. CMS will be phasing in the new cards gradually and on a state by state basis. Maryland is one of the first states slated for the new cards and beneficiaries...

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...

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Working Works: It’s Still National Disability Employment Awareness Month

One would like to imagine that it was a failing of this writer's observational powers rather than the lack of promotional ability of the organizers that, but for a fruitless quest for HP sauce* at a local Wegman’s I would not have known that this rapidly diminishing...

COLAs for 2027 Announced!

Social Security published its 2027 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) earlier this week. As is almost invariably the case monthly benefit payments will be higher, this year to the tune of 3.6%. For SSI recipients it means that the Federal Benefit Rate (FBR) will rise...

Goodnight, Virginia: SSA Closes VCU’s National Training Center

It was announced last Monday that the WIPA National Training and Data Center, would be shut down with immediate effect. The NTC, which was under the auspices of Virginia Commonwealth University, has been a primary source of training, education and support of Work...

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...