A New Year

Last year brought a lot of new and interesting discussions to our blogs (here and here). We offered a plethora of information to help our clients through the Social Security Disability process, and we plan to continue to do so! But, before we get a jump start on this New Year—let’s look back on some of the important topics from last year.

Electronic Social Security Disability Checks—Last May, we blogged about the end of an era. At that time, we mentioned that (in less than two years!) the Social Security Administration was no longer going to be issuing disability payments in the form of paper checks. In an attempt to cut costs, the SSA will soon be switching over to fully-electronic direct deposits for disability payments. The upside to electronic payments still remains…Electronic payments will almost guarantee that one's payment cannot be misplaced, sent to the wrong address, ruined in the rain, or eaten by the dog!

The threat of a possible Governmental Shutdown lead to a discussion about Governmental Budget Woes…Again—These types of blogs are never our favorite to write; there is nothing appealing about being the bearer of bad news! But, we were happy to report that they government did not, in fact, shut down. The ‘budget woes,’ on the other hand, are still an issue. We want to reassure our clients that, regardless of any outside factors—governmental, or otherwise, we will continue to operate as normal. At Binder & Binder®, it’s business as usual, and we’re going to continue working hard for our clients regardless of what happens.

Social Security Disability Case Stages—We know how long and difficult the Social Security Disability process can be. We took the time to break down the process, explain each stage in the game, and provide estimated time frames for the stages according to information from the Social Security Administration. The Social Security Disability Process, when broken down into the individual stages, consists of the Initial Application, Reconsideration, Hearing, and Appeals Council. Using the highest averaged amount of time per stage, the SSA averaged that some claims can take over 3 years before a final decision is rendered.

Most recently, we blogged about future changes to the Social Security Administration that were In The News—Due to recent controversy over a number of speculated flaws with the system, the SSA indicated they were going to commission an independent review of the system. With any luck, the review of the system would take a deeper look at the extreme inconsistency in benefit award rates that exist from one Administrative Law Judge to the next. Recommendations for improvement as a result of the review are expect to be available sometime this year.

The New Year is bound to bring new updates, new blogs, and new stories from us—be sure to check in often to stay up-to-date!

In The News

Recent announcements regarding the Social Security Administration (SSA) have indicated that an independent review of the system is set to take place soon. Without doubt, there has been a great deal of speculation in the past with regards to numerous presumed flaws in the federal disability program—and the proposed study will undertake a review of approximately 1,500 Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) with various award-rating backgrounds (or rather, ALJs with award rates ranging from extremely high to extremely low). Of the numerous presumed flaws in the SSA’s disability program, the extreme inconsistency in benefit award rates that exist from one ALJ to the next has been a top headline for some time. Recommendations for improvement of the system are predicted to be available next year.

Additionally, the Social Security Administration has indicated that, beginning this week, they will no longer be notifying applicants and representatives which ALJ has been assigned to hear their case. Past speculation has indicated that some applicants and their representative have made attempts to change the ALJ assigned to their case in an effort to have their case wind up in the hands of the more compassionate and benefit-awarding judges.

The results of the study and the outcomes remain to be seen, but we plan to keep you up-to-date with any and all future developments.

In The News

On Thursday, 11 people were charged in a fraud scheme—a scheme that involved hundreds of Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) Workers. The LIRR Workers involved in the scheme are being accused of falsely having claimed a multitude of disabling injuries that have allowed them to collect tens of thousands of dollars from their pension funds, in addition to disability payments. Included in the group of individuals charged were two doctors. A sampling of hundreds of claims that were approved by the two doctors revealed that over $100 million dollars, if not much more, had been paid out to LIRR workers whose disabilities were either fabricated or exaggerated.

While there is a separate federal disability and retirement fund for railroad workers, the fund mirrors that of the Social Security Administration’s in many ways. It’s unfortunate that instances of fraud, even as enormous as the LIRR Workers scheme, are not uncommon. But what is also unfortunate is the impact that fraudulent claims, whether they occur through a single individual or as part of a larger scheme, have on disability funds.

When an individual fabricates or exaggerates a disability and has their claim awarded benefits, they are drawing monies from the disability fund. The benefits awarded to fraudulent claims are subsequently no longer available to help individuals with legitimate disabilities. In an attempt to control fraudulent claims, the Social Security Administration participates in Continuing Disability Reviews to weed out those who are not or are no longer disabled. In 2008, Continuing Disability Reviews were expected to eventually cut benefits to 33,000 people who were not disabled or were no longer in need, but continuing to collect benefits fraudulently. The reviews in that year alone were estimated to yield a savings of $3.3 billion dollars that would have been spent in future benefits.

But fraudulent claims have more than just a monetary effect on the system. They can make the process of obtaining Social Security Benefits more difficult, as they lead way to increased skepticism. Individuals with legitimate claims may run into amplified pressure to provide more information in support of their disability—a task that can often be difficult on its own.

At Binder &BinderÒ, we fight for our clients because we understand what they are going through — how it can be difficult to make ends meet when you cannot work and how many people worry about keeping food on the table and roofs over their heads. But, we also know how of negative an impact a fraudulent claim can of have on the Social Security Disability fund. We want our current clients and future clients to know that we diligently screen our potential cases to help cut down on fraudulent claims. 

Auxiliary Benefits for Social Security Disability Claims

When a disabled individual receives Social Security Disability insurance benefits, their spouse or minor children may also be eligible to receive Social Security benefits. These benefits paid to the spouse or minor child are called “auxiliary benefits.” According to the Social Security Administration, “Auxiliary benefits” are additional monthly benefits. These benefits may be payable to other family members on an individual’s earnings record if they are entitled to disabled worker's benefits. They are payable to their family members even when an individual is not receiving benefits because of imprisonment, like we mentioned yesterday.

Whether a spouse or children receive Social Security benefits depends on which Social Security benefits the spouse or parent is receiving. Although there are two kinds of Social Security disability benefits: Social Security Disability (SSD) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), only Social Security Disability Insurance has auxiliary benefits. This means an individual must be receiving SSD for their spouse or children to receive auxiliary benefits. Please keep in mind, if an individual is receiving SSI, they are the only person who can receive benefits because there are no auxiliary benefits for SSI.

To receive auxiliary benefits, an individual’s spouse must be under age 62 and be the joint caregiver of their children under age 16. For children to qualify for auxiliary benefits, they must be: a dependent, under age 18, and unmarried. Dependent children who are legally adopted are also eligible; for instance, children for whom an individual required to provide child support. Additionally, a disabled adult is considered dependent if they became disabled before the age of 22.

If you’re a client and have any questions or concerns regarding your spouses or children’s ability to receive auxiliary benefits, please do not hesitate to let us know!

Incarceration and its Affect on a Social Security Disability Claim

Last week, we discussed how an individual’s past relevant work, and their past in general, can have an affect on their Social Security Disability claim. In keeping with the same topic, we’ll discuss what happens to an individual’s Social Security Disability claim or their disability benefits when they are convicted of a felony offense and sentenced to a time of incarceration.

According to the Social Security Administration, the purpose of disability and medical care to those persons who suffer economic hardship produced by the inability to earn a subsistence level of wages. Prisoners, however, are not subject to identical economic hardships and do not need a continuing source of income because their basic needs are already furnished at public expense. Under Section 404.468 of the Code of Regulations, “No monthly benefits will be paid to any individual for any month any part of which the individual is confined in a jail, prison, or other penal institution or correctional facility for conviction of a felony.”

Essentially, an individual has applied for Social Security Disability benefits that have a past conviction and incarceration on their record is not eligible to receive any back-benefits for the time period in which they were incarcerated. Alternatively, if an individual receiving disability benefits commits and is later convicted of a felony offense, any disability payments they were receiving at the time of their incarceration will stop until such a time as the individual is released.

Both Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income payments are subject to termination if an individual is convicted of a felony offense and as a result is sentenced to a period of incarceration. However, in SSD cases, auxiliary benefits, paid to eligible family members- will continue even if the individual is not receiving benefits at the time because of the individual’s felony conviction and imprisonment.

The Social Security Administration will accept an application for disability benefits from an individual who is incarcerated. The process and the outcome, however, vary from the norm. If you’re a client and have any questions or concerns regarding incarceration and its affect on your Social Security Disability claim, please feel free to leave a comment and let us know!

Your Past and its Affect on Your Social Security Disability Claim

Social Security Disability claims are confusing in their own right. When you start to factor in all of the additional aspects that play a role in the decision making process, it has the tendency to become even more confusing. Like we discussed in yesterday’s blog, something as simple as your work history and the exertional level of a job can have an affect on the decision of a Social Security Disability claim. But, that is just one of many factors that may come into play.

The majority of individuals that apply for Social Security Disability are unemployed. More often than not, their unemployment is, more or less, forced as a result of their inability to continue their previous work as a result of their disability. Unfortunately for some, even without a disability, obtaining employment is difficult due to issues from their past. For instance, some individuals with criminal records may have a more difficult time securing employment than others. While this criminal record may have an affect on obtaining employment, it does not necessarily have an impact on a favorable Social Security Disability claim outcome.

With regards to issues of hire-ability, the Social Security Administration does not consider whether or not a company would hire an individual. What they do consider, however, is an individual’s ability to work.  This applies not only to individuals with criminal records that have difficulty finding employment, but it also applies to all individuals that have difficulty finding employment due to the constraints of the recent economic state. 

An individual’s past work is extremely relevant when it comes to determining their disability. As we discussed in a much earlier blog, one of the five steps in the disability determination process is to determine whether or not an individual applying for disability is capable of completing their past work. For instance, if an individual has past relevant work that would be classified as medium, yet an Administrative Law Judge finds them to retain a light or sedentary functional capacity, it would indicate that the individual, although not necessarily capable of completing their former job, would be capable of completing other jobs at lower exertional levels.

To determine the physical exertion requirements of work in the national economy, the Social Security Administration classifies jobs in five different categories: sedentary, light, medium, heavy, and very heavy. These terms have the same meaning as they have in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, published by the Department of Labor. In making disability determinations under this subpart, the Social Security Administration uses the following definitions:

(a) Sedentary work. Sedentary work involves lifting no more than 10 pounds at a time and occasionally lifting or carrying articles like docket files, ledgers, and small tools. Although a sedentary job is defined as one which involves sitting, a certain amount of walking and standing is often necessary in carrying out job duties. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required occasionally and other sedentary criteria are met.

(b) Light work. Light work involves lifting no more than 20 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing up to 10 pounds. Even though the weight lifted may be very little, a job is in this category when it requires a good deal of walking or standing, or when it involves sitting most of the time with some pushing and pulling of arm or leg controls. To be considered capable of performing a full or wide range of light work, you must have the ability to do substantially all of these activities. If someone can do light work, the SSA determines that he or she can also do sedentary work, unless there are additional limiting factors such as loss of fine dexterity or inability to sit for long periods of time.

(c) Medium work. Medium work involves lifting no more than 50 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing up to 25 pounds. If someone can do medium work, the SSA determines that he or she can also do sedentary and light work.

(d) Heavy work. Heavy work involves lifting no more than 100 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing up to 50 pounds. If someone can do heavy work, the SSA determines that he or she can also do medium, light, and sedentary work.

(e) Very heavy work. Very heavy work involves lifting objects weighing more than 100 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing 50 pounds or more. If someone can do very heavy work, the SSA determines that he or she can also do heavy, medium, light and sedentary work.

If you’re a client, you’ve probably had us ask for a list of your past work. You’ve also had us ask for a supporting opinion for a treating doctor—we promise, there is a method to the madness! One of the most important things to be able to present as evidence in a disability claim is an individuals residual functional capacity—or, rather, what an individual is capable of doing (i.e. how much can they lift? How long can they sit, stand, or walk?) as a result of their disability. This information is compared against the information provided regarding an individual’s past work to determine what jobs, if any, they are capable of performing. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your past work and its affect on your Social Security Disability claim, feel free to leave a comment and let us know!

New Hours for the Social Security Administration

Effective August 15, 2011, Social Security field offices nationwide will close to the public 30 minutes early each day.  For example, a local Social Security office that is usually open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. will close daily at 3:30 p.m. The new hours will provide cost-cutting measures for the local offices.
“While agency employees will continue to work their regular hours, this shorter public window will allow us to complete face-to-face service with the visiting public without incurring the cost of overtime for our employees,” said Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security.  “Congress provided our agency with nearly $1 billion less than the President requested for our budget this fiscal year, which makes it impossible for us to provide the amount of overtime needed to handle service to the public as we have in the past.”  

Luckily, most Social Security Services do not require a visit to an actual office, as most can be done either online or over the phone. And, as our clients know: We’ll deal with the government; you have enough to worry about!

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the new hours for the Social Security field offices, feel free to leave a message and let us know!

If You’re Disabled, is Social Security an Option for You?

The general belief regarding disability benefits is: if you’re disabled, you can receive benefits. If only the system was that easy and uncomplicated, but it isn’t. And, if it was, we wouldn’t be here writing about it today! We’ve mentioned before how difficult and complex the system may be. That being said, even those who would qualify for disability based solely on their impairments, may not actually qualify for benefits in the long run.

Last month, we discussed the five-step process that one must be vetted through in order to be determined eligible for disability benefits. We’re not about to say that the five-step process is the only criteria for qualifying for disability, because it isn’t. A recent post on our Facebook page got us thinking. If you feel as if you meet the steps to qualify for disability, are there other issues standing in your way to receiving benefits? The simplest answer is: Yes.

As you may know, there are two different types of disability one can collect—Social Security Disability (SSD) and Supplement Security Income (SSI) benefits. SSD pays monthly cash benefits to people who have paid enough FICA taxes to qualify, and are now unable to work for a year or more because of a disability. Conversely, SSI is a governmental program that pays monthly cash benefits to people who are age 65 or older, those who are blind or those who have a disability and who do not own much or have a lot of income.

If you've worked most of your life and have paid your FICA tax, generally you're going to be eligible for SSD. Specifically, you must have worked ten years in your lifetime and five years out of the last ten at the time you became disabled for SSD eligibility. Unfortunately, if you do not fit the above-noted criteria, there is a chance that you may not qualify for SSD. SSI is available to certain people, like disabled adults and children who have limited income or resources. To qualify for SSI benefits, you must meet certain eligibility requirements, which can be confusing and may vary state by state.

There is, however, a slight chance that—due to individual, family or household circumstance—one may not be eligible for either SSD or SSI. Often times an individual will find out that their household income places them outside of the criteria for SSI. At the same time, they suffer from a disability that does not allow them to return to work, but they cannot qualify for SSD as they have not worked at least five years out of the last ten in order to be eligible. It’s an unfortunate and frustrating situation to be in, and the Social Security Administration’s regulations are not able to be adjusted.

Working While Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits

Kind of sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Receiving Social Security Disability benefits and working? It doesn’t necessarily seem like the two would go hand-in-hand, but they can. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has special rules that make it possible for those receiving Social Security Disability (SSD) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to work and still receive monthly payments.

Many of our clients express their continued desire to work, while reporting that their disabilities simply do not allow them to do the work they used to do. Social Security has a work incentive and a Ticket to Work program, both designed to encourage and enable those receiving disability to return to the work force if they are interested in doing so.

There are some important things to keep in mind, however. If you decide you are going to return to the work force, you need to inform the SSA as soon as possible. They will be able to explain their work incentives to you, which include continued cash benefits for a time while you are working, continued Medicare or Medicaid while you work, and help with education, training, and rehabilitation to start a new line of work.

Obviously, if you are able to return to work full-time, and begin to earn wages that are what the SSA considers Substantial Gainful Employments, your cash benefits may come to a stop. The upside to this, though? If you return to work only to find out that you are unable to continue doing so because of your medical condition, your benefits can start again, and you would not need to re-start the disability process. This means you would not need to fill out another application, and you would certainly not need to attend another hearing.

Please keep in mind, however, that there is a time limit to how long you are allowed to work before you would actually need to restart the disability process. After your benefits stop because your earnings are substantial, you have five years during which you may ask the SSA to start your benefits immediately if you find yourself unable to continue working because of your condition.

Much like the above-noted work incentives, the Ticket to Work program may also help if you would like to return to work. The SSA provides individuals with vocational rehabilitations, job training and referrals, and support services free of charge. Additionally, you will not undergo medical reviews while you are using the ticket and making timely progress your return to work plan.

We want to make you aware of all of your opportunities; it’s the least we can do! If you have any questions about the work incentives or Ticket to Work program, feel free to leave us a message and let us know what’s on your mind. We’d be happy to provide extra information if you are interested, and point you in the right direction if you’d like to return to work!

Compassionate Allowances

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has an obligation. What is that obligation we are hinting towards, you may wonder? Well, it’s quite simple. If an applicant’s condition is so serious that they obviously meet disability standards, the SSA has the obligation to provide benefits…quickly.

According to the SSA, “compassionate allowances are a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions and that invariably qualify under the Listing of Impairments based on minimal objective medical information. Compassionate allowances allow Social Security to quickly target the most obviously disabled individuals for allowances based on objective medical information that we can obtain quickly.”

The Commissioner of Social Security, Michael J. Astrue, has held numerous Compassionate Allowance public outreach meetings over the past few years. Discussions have been held regarding disabilities such as rare diseases, cancer, traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke, early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, schizophrenia, and cardiovascular disease. The most recent public outreach meeting, held on March 16, 2011, opened the discussion of compassionate allowances with regard to autoimmune diseases.

Compassionate allowance cases are very similar in nature to terminal illness claims—however, not all compassionate allowance claims will involve a terminal illness. For example, an individual with a spinal cord injury may qualify as a compassionate allowance, even if they are expected to live a long life.

While their obligation may be quite simple, it doesn’t necessarily mean the process is also simple. In fact, the criterion to have a claim designated as compassionate allowance is strict. That’s where we come in. We’ll deal with the government; you have enough to worry about. Currently, the SSA’s list of compassionate allowance conditions holds just under 100 listings. We don’t expect you to know if you meet one of those listing, that’s our job. And, since we’re here to do things Better and Nicer, you can be assured we’ll help your case get on the right track to a compassionate allowance listing, if the criteria are met.

If you have any questions or concerns regard compassionate allowances, please feel free to leave a comment!

Elimination of the Diabetes Listing.

Many Americans suffer from diabetes. Diabetes mellitus is a condition that results from the body's inability to use blood glucose for energy. One may be diagnosed with type I diabetes or type II diabetes. To manage the disease, an individual must carefully monitor blood sugar levels to minimize fluctuations, which requires continued vigilance and strict adherence to a perpetual, multi-faceted and demanding treatment regimen. They may need to inject insulin, follow a diabetic diet, exercise daily and test your blood sugar several times a day.

If a blood test shows a drop in glucose levels, one must stop all other activities and consume the kinds of foods that will bring their sugar levels back up to normal. Unless they act quickly, they may experience periods of dizziness, weakness, loss of ability to think or concentrate on work. It may even result in losing consciousness (or passing out). Conversely, spikes in blood glucose levels can cause equally adverse consequences.

Sometimes, this rigid schedule makes being both an insulin-dependent diabetic and a productive worker impossible. When your diabetes keeps you out of the workforce, you may be able to get Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income benefits to make ends meet.  Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in this country, and death rates for diabetes have increased by 45% since 1987.

In December of 2009, the Federal Register published a change to the Endocrine Listing (Medical Listing 9) proposed by the Social Security Administration (SSA); they proposed that the impairments set out in Medical Listing 9 be eliminated. Medical Listing 9 includes not only diabetes, but also thyroid and other endocrine disorders. The purpose behind the proposed elimination is based upon what SSA considers to be "advances in medical treatment in the detection" of endocrine disorders. As a consequence of these advances, SSA believes that these types of disorders no longer meet the 12-month durational requirement. If they no longer meet the 12-month durational requirement, these disorders cannot be considered disabilities.

Unfortunately, the proposed change to Medical Listing 9 has recently been approved. As of June 7, 2011, severe impairments such as diabetes and thyroid disorders will no longer serve as a basis to obtain Social Security Disability benefits on a stand alone basis. If endocrine disorders cause problems of medical listing-level severity in other organs or glands, SSA will "evaluate these effects under other body system listings."

Most importantly, however, is that current beneficiaries who have received or are receiving an award of Social Security Disability benefits based upon endocrine disorders will not be terminated. They will, however, continue to be reviewed for medical improvement under the original medical listing upon which their initial entitlement was based.

Despite the fact that the majority Medical Listing 9 will soon cease to exist, our job here at Binder and Binder® does not change. We'll deal with the government; you have enough to worry about. We’ll continue to fight for your disability in spite of the changes!

Is There a Time Limit on How Long You Can Receive Social Security Benefits?

Those receiving, and those applying to receive, Social Security Disability benefits might wonder if there is a time limit to the length of time they are eligible to receive benefits. The easiest way to look at the question and subsequently answer it is to begin by saying that there are not two cases that are exactly the same, so—the same outcome is not necessarily standard across the board. When it comes to continued payments, however,  if your medical condition does not improve, your disability payments do not stop, regardless of the type of impairment.

The Social Security Administration reviews cases at intervals to assure that the individuals receiving disability are still disabled. If an individual’s disability improves, and they are able to return to substantial gainful employment, there would no longer be a need for disability payments. Additionally, those who are still receiving disability payments when they reach full retirement age will have their benefits converted automatically from disability benefits to retirement benefits.

All of that being said, there might be some confusion as to why the Social Security Administration reviews cases to guarantee that those receiving disability benefits are, indeed, still disabled. As mentioned above, disability claims may be similar, but never identical. As a result, how often a case is reviewed depends on the severity of the case. An individual’s Notice of Award (which is normally received after the Notice of Decision has been sent), not only offers an explanation of one’s benefits and payments, it also indicates when an individual would be able to expect a first review. The less likely your disability was expected to improve, the longer an individual would wait for a review, perhaps five to seven years or longer. Conversely, if one’s disability was expected to improve or noted possible improvement, a first review could land anywhere between six months...to three years after the decision has been made.

If you have any specific questions about the process, we’d be happy to answer them for you; just let us know!

Speaking of Payments...

We are usually able to anticipate the first question from our clients following a fully-favorable decision: When will I begin to receive my payments?

It’s quite possibly one of the most important questions we get to answer; after all, this is what we’ve been fighting for since the Initial Application was filed. Understanding the payment process is quite easy—once you get past the slightly confusing part, that is.

For an individual who has applied for Social Security Disability benefits, as many of you may know, it’s required to identify the onset date of disability. If benefits are granted, an individual  is declared disabled as of the date they originally alleged their disability began (unless otherwise noted in the decision). More often than not, the alleged onset date is over a year past the current date. Not only will the individual begin to receive monthly payments based on their past earnings record, but they may also receive back payments for the months they were disable and not receiving payments. But, there’s a little bit of a catch.

Let’s say, for instance, Mr. K. applied for Social Security Disability benefits, alleging an onset date of January 1, 2010. If Mr. K’s benefits were to be granted, he would be entitled to back payments to the aforementioned date. However, the Social Security Administration cannot begin payments for 5 months after the established onset. As such, Mr. K. would not begin receiving his back payments until the 6^th full month after the disability began.

There are exceptions to this rule, however. The 5-month waiting period for Social Security Disability benefits does not apply to those applying as children of workers. Additionally, the regulations for receiving payments for a Supplemental Security Income claim are slightly different. Rather than a 5-month wait, individuals may begin receiving payments as early as 1 month after their application date or 1 month after they became eligible.

In The News

Budget issues are plaguing just about everyone these days, the government included. In an article recently posted on Kiplinger, a website geared towards finance advice, Mary Beth Franklin revealed that, as of April, most employees in the United State will no longer be receiving mailed statements of their Social Security benefit estimates. Why? Because of the national budget, or lack thereof.

These statements, which I actually just received by mail last week, contain a breakdown of past work history, earnings, and general information regarding retirement. Franklin indicated Social Security started mailing the informational statements in 1999—to the tune of about $70 million a year. Luckily, the majority of the information is still available through an online estimator at www.ssa.gov/estimator.

So, how does this affect you? Social Security benefit estimations also reveal an amount of money you, as an individual, could be expected to receive if you become disabled before retirement age. There is hope that the Social Security Administration will have the mailings back up and running next fall—but, only to those over the age of 60, which leaves out a lot of our clients. Unfortunately, the online estimator won’t include the information that could be considered most important to our clients. For instance, annual earning histories and disability payment estimations won’t be included, which would make it harder for disabled individuals under the age of 60 to figure out how much they might be entitled to if proven disabled.

Will this new plan of attack save the government money? Sure; it will probably help them save millions.  But it will undoubtedly leave a number of people in the dark when their statements stop arriving in the mail. Fear not—if you’re ever curious about your earnings history and estimated disability payments, you can request this information from the Social Security Administration.