SSD Resource Centertag:www.ssdrc.com,2010-02-10:/ssdrcblog//12012-05-16T19:51:32ZThe Social Security Disability Resource Center is published by Tim Moore, a former disability claims examiner for the Social Security Administration's DDS, a.k.a. disability determination services. For additional information, visit the following page: Social Security Disability ResourcesMovable Type Pro 4.34-enI receive a disability pension from a different country, can I get SSDI?tag:www.ssdrc.com,2012:/ssdrcblog//1.322012-05-16T19:28:50Z2012-05-16T19:51:32Z This question comes from an individual who is a U.S. citizen, works as a research scientist, and receives a disability pension from Japan which is not sufficient to meet his living needs. His question: "Am I eligible to get...SSDRC
This question comes from an individual who is a U.S. citizen, works as a research scientist, and receives a disability pension from Japan which is not sufficient to meet his living needs.
His question: "Am I eligible to get any benefits (SSDI, Medicare etc.) and how do I apply?"
If you never worked in the US or worked very little, you may not be insured for Social Security disability benefits. If you have not worked enough to be insured, you are not eligible for Social Security disability. If you happen to have worked enough to be insured for Social Security disability benefits, your disability amount would be offset with the amount of your disability pension from Japan...
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How is the last disability payment made when a person dies?tag:www.ssdrc.com,2012:/ssdrcblog//1.312012-05-16T19:10:41Z2012-05-16T19:26:11Z This question comes from Caroline. When a person that has been receiving SSD monthly payments dies, how is the last payment made? I heard that the last payment has to be returned, is that correct? Or is it prorated...SSDRC
This question comes from Caroline.
When a person that has been receiving SSD monthly payments dies, how is the last payment made? I heard that the last payment has to be returned, is that correct? Or is it prorated per day? Are the payments paid in advance for the month? Thank you. Asking for a friend, she has no computer.
Caroline,
Social Security payments are always made for the previous month; the deceased person may be due a check in the month that they passed away. Social Security views...
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What are the "rules" for SSD when two people in a household have disabilities? I there any difference?tag:www.ssdrc.com,2012:/ssdrcblog//1.302012-04-27T12:47:13Z2012-04-27T13:03:54Z What are the "rules" for SSD when two people in a household have disabilities? Is there any difference? Basically, there are no rules for Social Security disability beneficiaries with regard to both or two people in the same household...SSDRC
What are the "rules" for SSD when two people in a household have disabilities? Is there any difference?
Basically, there are no rules for Social Security disability beneficiaries with regard to both or two people in the same household receiving disability benefits.
If both are entitled to receive Social Security disability they will both receive their full disability benefit amounts. However, SSI disability beneficiaries are subject to a couples (if they are married )maximum benefit amount that is less than the full SSI disability amount for each person. The 2012 SSI couples amount is $1048.00 per month.
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Will SSDI Disability convert to SSI at retirement age?tag:www.ssdrc.com,2012:/ssdrcblog//1.292012-04-26T08:36:36Z2012-04-26T08:40:36Z "I am receiving SSDI for almost a year for Inflammatory Arthritis and associated auto-immune conditions, etc.. I will be 60 soon and am concerned that at retirement age, my benefits will convert to SSI which is at least $200/mo....SSDRC"I am receiving SSDI for almost a year for Inflammatory Arthritis and associated auto-immune conditions, etc.. I will be 60 soon and am concerned that at retirement age, my benefits will convert to SSI which is at least $200/mo. less. My attorney told me that the SSDI benefit would not change when I become eligble for retirement. Please let me know what is true . . . as I am permanently disabled. Thanks!!"
Your Social Security disability benefits will not convert to Social Security retirement benefits until you are age 66. You're receiving disability benefits that are equal to your full retirement benefits amount. So there will be no change in your benefits when you turn 66. You will just be receiving full retirement benefits versus disability benefits.
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Getting a Waiver of a Social Security Disability Overpaymenttag:www.ssdrc.com,2012:/ssdrcblog//1.282012-04-26T08:29:15Z2012-04-26T08:31:24Z "My brother was receiving SSDI for four years while working part-time. A year and a half ago, he received a notice for a hearing for over-payment and stopped his payments. After SSDI never scheduling said hearing for months, my...SSDRC"My brother was receiving SSDI for four years while working part-time. A year and a half ago, he received a notice for a hearing for over-payment and stopped his payments. After SSDI never scheduling said hearing for months, my brother passed away last April at the age of 34. Now my retired parents have received notice from SSDI requiring payment and all their financial records, including IRA holdings, annuities, etc. so they may determine an amount of repayment (approx. $36,000). The original hearing would have determined minimal to no repayment amount but they refused to schedule the hearing. My parents were not his legal guardians. How is this possible?"
It could only be possible if your parents or a parent was a representative payee for your brother. The representative payee is held accountable for benefits paid. They are responsible for notifying Social Security that the person they represent is working.
I would like to add that your parents can file for a waiver of the overpayment. In order to file a waiver your parents would have to provide their financial information. Financial information is used to determine if the repayment amount can be reduced. If your parents were not your brother's representative payee, they need to contact Social Security. If your parents go through the waiver process they will be entitled to a hearing as well. An administrative law judge might determine that they owe nothing or a very low repayment amount. I would suggest filing a waiver and going through the process until they get a chance to see a judge.
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Veterans, Disability Lawyers, and Win Ratestag:www.ssdrc.com,2012:/ssdrcblog//1.272012-04-24T16:17:30Z2012-04-26T07:46:24Z I recently posted at a forum I had seen many times but had never participated in. One of the members had a question about a certain Social Security Disability Website. He had contacted the website and then been contacted...SSDRC
I recently posted at a forum I had seen many times but had never participated in. One of the members had a question about a certain Social Security Disability Website. He had contacted the website and then been contacted back by them. They claimed they could drastically raise his veterans disability rating. I decided to respond to the poster and this is what I wrote:
"I honestly don't know anything about veterans disability. I'm a former disability examiner for the Social Security Administration's DDS, or disability determination service (www.ssdrc.com). However, I would be wary of anyone stating that they could increase a person's disability rating, just as I am wary of certain social security attorneys who advertise a 90% win rate. On that issue, do those attorneys actually get a 90 percent win rate? Yes, but that's only by being extremely selective about the cases they take, effectively cherry-picking only the winners. They achieve those high win ratios that way, then go out and advertise their win ratios to draw attention to their firm or practice so they can continue cherry-picking cases. The best disability attorneys, IMO, are those that get maligned as "the ambulance chasers" of the social security representation field. These are the guys who take every case that walks through the door. Others tend to speak negatively about this approach, but these reps tend to be the ones who work a little harder to win more difficult cases and aren't looking for every guaranteed slam-dunk win (and an easy paycheck). Don't get me wrong. They may be looking for those too, but they're also looking to provide assistance to people who need help. Two of the best ones I came across were former legal aid lawyers (obviously, you don't get rich working for legal aid)."
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Autism either being more precisely identified, or simply increasing?tag:www.ssdrc.com,2012:/ssdrcblog//1.262012-04-04T12:11:58Z2012-04-04T12:33:10Z Autism is now appearing in 1 in 88 children according to the CDC. The question is whether or not autism in actually on the rise or is being identified sooner as a result of more precise diagnostic techniques. I...SSDRCAutism is now appearing in 1 in 88 children according to the CDC. The question is whether or not autism in actually
on the rise or is being identified sooner as a result of more precise diagnostic techniques.
I recall reading a few short years ago the notion that autism may be increasing as a result of internet dating, a means by which individuals with more milder forms of autism--and who according to the reports seem to have a higher-than-average representation in the sciences--could meet. A little bit of autism here and a little bit there and then...more autism?
However, I don't think the idea was simply that. One of the proponents of this idea (Susan Greenfield if I recall) seemed to take the position that increased internet usage (and that was a few years ago, say about five or six--online time has increased considerably since then) was actually affecting the development of the brain.
Interestingly enough, I recently read "The Shallows: What the internet is doing to our brains" by Nicholas Carr. The book is a compelling read and was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction.
Carr also wrote an article for The Atlantic Monthly titled "Is Google making us stupid?". My feeling is yes. Carr wrote that acquiring information through web documents that are extensively hyperlinked provides a disruptive effect between the temporary storage of newly learned information and the physical transfer of this information into areas of the brain that serve as long-term storage.
Basically, the constant flitting about online has the effect of overwhelming what is referred to as our working memory, thus preventing the ability of individuals to retain what they are exposed to. This in turn has a dumbing down effect because it hampers the development of schemas of organized knowledge that, ordinarily, would serve as a mental library that provides context and insight for all the information that we continually come across (and these days, that's a lot).
In short, we should expect upcoming generations of children to be better multi-taskers but with poorer attention spans, less accumulated in-depth knowledge, and, most distressingly, less insight and, perhaps, poorer judgement.
It makes me wonder how difficult things may be for teachers and parents in the coming years.
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Do you have to go to court to get disability benefits?tag:www.ssdrc.com,2012:/ssdrcblog//1.252012-03-29T15:38:35Z2012-05-16T19:09:00Z On the facebook page for this site, I posted a link to a page that questioned why it was that court (actually, a hearing) was necessary to win disability benefits. Obviously, if you go by the statistics, which have...SSDRC
On the facebook page for this site, I posted a link to a page that questioned why it was that court (actually, a hearing) was necessary to win disability benefits. Obviously, if you go by the statistics, which have been fairly consistent for the nearly 20 years that I've been looking at them, you don't always have to go to a hearing. Most of the time, however, you do.
Why is this? Is it because disability examiners do not do their jobs properly? Is it because the system is tilted against the claimant who applies? Is it because there is an institutional atmosphere of denial, a culture of denial?
As to the last two, the answer is yes. Regarding disability examiners, I would say no. That's because disability examiners carry heavy caseloads, work under a great deal of stress, and, more relevantly, do not make decisions in vacuum. Their decisions are subject to be modified, even completely changed by their supervisors. And those supervisors are often titled against making too many approvals. Why? Because approvals are the kinds of cases that get sent back as quality assurance reviews by DQB, the disability quality branch. You can be sure that if DQB sent back as many cases that had been marked for denial, things would be different. But they aren't.
You shouldn't have to have to go to a hearing. And if there was more consistency in the system, you wouldn't have to. It is completely ridiculous that you can be denied at the initial claim and recon appeal levels, and then get approved by an ALJ (administrative law judge). And it is even more ridiculous that you have to file for, and wait for, a hearing--which can add a year to your total wait than if you had simply been given the correct decision when you first applied, or even when you did your first appeal. But that's the system, and its not likely to change.
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Disability Deadline and Appointment for Medical Examtag:www.ssdrc.com,2012:/ssdrcblog//1.242012-02-29T19:40:09Z2012-03-29T15:36:04Z Someone wrote in and said that they have a consultative medical exam scheduled on March 10th, but that their case has a deadline of March 8th. I wrote back with the following: You have a deadline of march 8th?...SSDRC
Someone wrote in and said that they have a consultative medical exam scheduled on March 10th, but that their case has a deadline of March 8th. I wrote back with the following:
You have a deadline of march 8th? I'm not sure what you mean by this. A disability application filed under title 2 (social security disability) or title 16 (SSI, supplemental security income) has no deadline. The case just takes as long as the case takes. If there were deadlines on case processing, then it would very often be impossible for disability examiners to get all the needed medical records together, or evaluate your normal daily activities (this may involve calling one of your friends, neighbors, or relatives who you may have designated as a third-party contact, or it may involve giving yourself a call or sending you an ADL, i.e. activities of daily living questionare to compete and return), or properly investigate and classify your past relevant work history (the information from this is used to determine if you still have the ability to engage in your past work, or perform some type of other work in the national economy).
The only disability cases that have deadlines are "medicaid for disabled adults" claims. I used to take these when I was a caseworker (In addition to being a former disability examiner, I used to be a medicaid caseworker). They have a case processing deadline of 90 days and if a decision has not been made by a disability examiner, then the case is denied. Usually a medicaid case like this is denied because, as we pointed out, the disability examiner didn't have time to get the records together. Which is exactly why they don't use those silly deadlines on SSD and SSI claims. It would be a disaster. Back to what you said though. If you have a CE (consultative medical exam) scheduled for two days after "the deadline" something does not make sense. You should contact the disability examiner who has your case. There should be a contact number on the CE appt letter that you received.
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The Social Security Field Officetag:www.ssdrc.com,2012:/ssdrcblog//1.232012-01-11T14:01:34Z2012-01-11T14:15:17Z Social Security field offices are the public face of Social Security. Most individuals who have to contact with Social Security will do so at their local Social Security field office. Field offices provide a wide range of services for...SSDRC
Social Security field offices are the public face of Social Security. Most individuals who have to contact with Social Security will do so at their local Social Security field office.
Field offices provide a wide range of services for the public. Currently, field offices complete applications for new Social Security cards as well as card replacement services for both Social Security and Medicare. Social Security field office personnel complete applications for Social Security disability, Supplemental Security Income disability (SSI), retirement, and survivor applications (i.e. widow/widower, surviving children).
The social security office is often the first point of contact for applicants. However, individuals who are applying for disability should keep in mind the fact that after a disability claim has been filed, calling the social security office to check the status of the disability claim will not be very helpful. This is because after the claim is taken in a field office, it is transferred to disability determination services where a disability examiner will begin the work required to make a disability determination.
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Social Security Claims Representative (at the Social Security Office)tag:www.ssdrc.com,2012:/ssdrcblog//1.222012-01-09T14:17:04Z2012-01-09T14:18:04Z Social Security claims representatives are responsible for obtaining and verifying information used to determine eligibility for retirement, survivors, disability and Medicare health benefits. Social Security claims representatives take applications for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income disability (SSI), retirement,...SSDRC
Social Security claims representatives are responsible for obtaining and verifying information used to determine eligibility for retirement, survivors, disability and Medicare health benefits.
Social Security claims representatives take applications for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income disability (SSI), retirement, and survivor applications. Claims representatives clarify information, resolve discrepancies, and make final eligibility and payment decisions on initial disability claims, retirement claims, and survivor claims.
While claims representatives do not make medical disability determinations for initial disability claims or continuing disability medical reviews, they make the final decision on the disability claim.
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Social Security Unsuccessful Work Attempttag:www.ssdrc.com,2012:/ssdrcblog//1.212012-01-06T21:37:33Z2012-01-06T21:55:54Z Social Security Disability considers an individual's work history when making their medical disability determinations. To that end, Social Security considers any job performed for three months or more in which the individual's earnings were at a SGA level to...SSDRC
Social Security Disability considers an individual's work history when making their medical disability determinations. To that end, Social Security considers any job performed for three months or more in which the individual's earnings were at a SGA level to be relevant work activity for their disability medical determination.
SGA is a monthly earnings amount that Social Security considers to be self- supporting----this monthly amount can change each year.
Social Security can discount earnings that are over the SGA monthly earnings amount when someone applies for disability if they had a significant break in their employment.
For Social Security purposes, a significant break in SGA is a period of at least thirty days in which the disability applicant has been forced to reduce their earnings, change their type of work, or move to another employer because of their disabling condition.
An unsuccessful work attempt in which an individual is performing SGA can last six months or less before it is considered a successful attempt at work.
Generally, Social Security does not require a lot of documentation for relevant jobs that ended in three months or less due to an individual's condition or loss of special considerations given by their employer. However, that changes when evaluating an unsuccessful work attempt lasting more than three months but less than six months.
In order for Social Security to grant an unsuccessful work attempt lasting more than three months, there has to be thorough documentation from the employer with regard to absences, loss of special considerations, etc to substantiate the allegation of an unsuccessful work attempt lasting more than three months.
It is important to note that unsuccessful work attempts are six months or less of performing SGA-level work activity, which means a person can have an unsuccessful work attempt while remaining with the same employer if they are no longer performing SGA (earning SGA-level income) after six months.
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What does Social Security need from your medical records?tag:www.ssdrc.com,2011:/ssdrcblog//1.202011-12-28T03:11:10Z2011-12-28T03:17:10Z 1. The information from a claimant's medical records should allow the disability examiner or administrative law judge (depending on the level of the claim) to discern that the claimant has functional limitations that are great enough to rule out...SSDRC
1. The information from a claimant's medical records should allow the disability examiner or administrative law judge (depending on the level of the claim) to discern that the claimant has functional limitations that are great enough to rule out the ability to work at a substantial and gainful level at--
B) at any other type of job for which they might otherwise be qualified.
2. The information should go far back enough to precede their DLI, or date last insured (think of it as the expiration point for insurance coverage), if their claim is for title II social security disability only, and should also go far back enough to hopefully support their AOD, or alleged onset date (when they believe that their condition became disabling).
3. The information in the medical records should contain recent information that supports a finding of "disabled". Social Security, for this reason, needs to see medical evidence that has been generated within the last ninety days. What happens if recent information is not in the file? It can make it more difficult to get a case approved. For SSA to make the determination that a person is disabled, they need to be able to determine that the person is disabled now. Without recent medical record information, a disability examiner will certainly be faced with having to schedule a claimant for a social security medical exam, or CE (consultative exam).
Consults are performed by independent physicians and when they are physical exams, they tend to be fairly brief. They are not for the purpose of providing treatment, and the examining physician may know next to nothing about the claimant or their medical history. Typically, a social security medical exam is ordered simply so the examiner can get the case closed. Will a CE get a disability case approved? Usually not on its own. However, if the remainder of the medical evidence is strong enough, it can allow an approval to be made since it will supply recent medical records which the examiner needs to close the case.
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The Social Security Disability and SSI system is very very flawedtag:www.ssdrc.com,2011:/ssdrcblog//1.192011-12-13T19:48:29Z2011-12-13T19:51:39Z I recently received an email from a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, whose specialty seems to be economic affairs. He said that he had seen something I wrote, presumably long ago, about medical consultants and doctor shopping. I...SSDRC
I recently received an email from a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, whose specialty seems to be economic affairs. He said that he had seen something I wrote, presumably long ago, about medical consultants and doctor shopping. I couldn't recall ever writing about doctor shopping, but I could tell his article would not involve any topic that I could realistically contribute well to, so I declined. However, this is main part of what I wrote back to him:
If by consultants, you're referring to the private physicians who conduct consultative medical exams for the social security administration, those exams tend to be largely useless aside from satisfying a requirement that an adjudicator have some amount of medical documentation that has come into existence within the last 90 days (so that SSA can state that their decision is legitimately based on current evidence).
If you're referring to the unit consultants who work with disability examiners, that system is astoundingly flawed. In that system, an M.D. who works in the examiner's unit will give a residual functional capacity rating to a claimant after reviewing the medical evidence. I.E. a doctor who has never treated or seen a patient will assess the patient's condition and resulting limitations. The consultant is hardly objective since he works for a state disability agency that is a component of the federal system. Yet, at the same time, if a claimant presents a detailed supporting statement from their treating physician (a doctor who, by virtue of his history of providing treatment to the patient, is actually deemed qualified to issue a medical source statement), that statement will likely be ignored.
The question should be "Why doesn't social security make the attempt to obtain a statement from the claimant's own doctor?" The system would make a lot more sense that way. They don't. And maybe cost is considered a prohibitive issue. But they still send people to these useless, unproductive exams and those have a cost. Like sending a claimant to a gynecologist for a consultative exam when the individual has degenerative disc disease.
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Social Security Disability Information and Seminartag:www.ssdrc.com,2011:/ssdrcblog//1.182011-11-17T15:36:23Z2011-12-28T03:06:54Z Nothing really bites more than writing an entire post and losing it due to an inadvertent misplaced keystroke before the post is saved. Having said that, I will continue with this, the second attempt at this post. Ahem, for...SSDRC
Nothing really bites more than writing an entire post and losing it due to an inadvertent misplaced keystroke before the post is saved. Having said that, I will continue with this, the second attempt at this post.
I think seminars are a great idea for getting information out to those who need it. For one thing, it offers a person an opportunity to get answers in person (from a live individual) to questions about SSD and SSI, some of them being general questions, others being more specific. But seminars, if conducted properly, can also offer an individual the chance to:
1. Gather information for family members or friends.
3. Finally, get a claim initiated versus on thinking about, or "considering", doing the same.
Item 3 concerns what I lost when I hit that wrong keystroke in notepad (note: future posts will be written in a blog platform that does auto-saving because I cannot tolerate having to rewrite things, especially since I probably won't remember what it was that I said/wrote the first time).
Here's the gist of what I had to say: a friend contacted me to say that her friend, we'll call him Frank, had been considering getting a disability claim started. He'd been considering this for a...very long time. So long, in fact, that you had to wonder if he would ever really do it.
His reasons for not doing it one could only speculate at. However, they--as is the case with so many individuals--were probably a mixture of:
A) Feeling a fair amount of apprehension with regard to dealing with paperwork and bureaucracy. This is something we can surely all relate to since tax time tends to strike terror into the hearts of many and even going to the DMV for a renewal can seem like a daunting expedition.
B) Feeling a fair amount of depression that "this is what it has all come to". Very understandable. It would be abnormal to not feel this way.
C) Feeling fear regarding the prospect of being denied for disability. This is such a tangible, nearly palpable thing that many people have a reaction to getting a denial notice that causes them to emotionally shut down and, as a result, miss their appeal deadline. Again, this is sometimes one of the benefits of being represented prior to the disability hearing level--not missing deadlines and months of valuable time.
Making the situation even worse, of course, was the fact that Frank had recently contacted his local social security office and had been given horrendously wrong information from an SR (service rep). That information had lead him to conclude that he didn't need to file for disability because "he was clearly not disabled". Whew.
Without getting into the specifics of the conversation between Frank and this unnamed social security employee (because I don't know that person's name nor would I mention it if I did--most likely the service rep didn't even realize the impact of his/her poorly chosen, and let's be honest, completely ignorant words), my main takeaway from the conversation with my friend who was relating this experience of Frank's was that Frank had been too willing to let himself think that he didn't need to file for disability, or at the very least could allow himself to defer the decision to do so once again.
This, despite the fact that Frank is a well-educated professional, with a highly logical mind...who probably has a good case because he has some significant limitations as a result of his condition. The fact that he has some money set aside from diligent savings over the years is really irrelevant to the issue of whether or not he should apply for the benefits to which he is entitled.
Now, that's basically the information that I lost from that post. Back to the original point of this post: seminars, if conducted properly, can be a good thing. And if you live in New Hampshire, this one may be helpful for you.
