Featured Posts

Be Aware of How You Could Lose Your Social Security Benefits

1.Cessation of Disability: Usually a “cessation of benefits” occurs when you are not seeking regular and continuing treatment for the medical problems in the original determination for the grant of benefits. Also, if you are able to make enough money to pass above a certain threshold earnings amount, then you’ll stop getting disability benefits. For...
Read More

NEW IMPAIRMENT LISTING IN FULL EFFECT & APPLICABLE TO ALL ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS IMMEDIATELY

NEW MENTAL LISTINGS Effective: January 17, 2017 After a revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), and thousands of public comments later, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has published significant revisions to its mental impairment listings.  SSA had issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in August 2010, proposing what at the time appeared to be...
Read More

Social Security Funding is Easily Fixable

The outrage over Social Security benefits viability is warranted. It is clear the program faces long-run financing issues since 1983 and it was well understood by Congress that the shortfall was not going be corrected since early in 1993.  “The Figure shows that the deficit has hovered around 2 percent of taxable payrolls for almost 20 years.”  Since nothing has been...
Read More

Adult “Child Disability Benefits”: Wage Earner Maze

Recently, we took in a claimant who was previously represented by of course, a non-attorney, who she and her guardian thought was an attorney because they went to a law firm. See our previous blogs on how to check and hire an actual attorney. In this claim the non-attorney failed to recognize the  issue of retroactivity...
Read More

Medical Expert at Your Hearing? You need an attorney

If there is a medical expert (ME) at your hearing and you are unrepresented or the person representing you is someone you just met the day of the hearing you can ask the Judge for a delay in order to seek an attorney who has experience in cross examining the so called “medical expert”. Often,...
Read More

Social Security Ruling 11-1p: New Application

In essence SSR-11-1p limits claimants after receiving an Unfavorable ALJ Hearing Decision or in some circumstances a Partially Favorable ALJ Hearing Decision to decide an Appeals Council action OR submit a “new”/”subsequent” application. In the past you could do both without restrictions. SSR-11-1p dramatically changed a claimant’s choice. SSA is still digesting and issuing the procedures...
Read More