I recently had a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge representing a pleasant 27 year old woman who we will call Jane. Jane is diagnosed with infantile cerebral palsy, among other conditions. This is a sad case that should never have went before a judge. Jane was already receiving disability thru Supplemental Security Income; however […]

The dismal performance of the Social Security Administration in processing and paying Social Security Disability and SSI claims continues to generate interest in the national media. Lisa Rein, a reporter for the Washington Post, has done a great series of articles about the SSA and has shed light on a system in chaos. She writes […]

The Affordable Connectivity Program is an FCC benefit program that helps ensure that households can afford the broadband internet they need for work, school, healthcare and more. The benefit provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal […]

You know that duck on television that advertises disability insurance? There is an even cheaper disability insurance you can get. If you are self-employed, you might think it is best if you have a crafty accountant deduct your income down to zero or close to it. You might be cheating yourself! If you pay F.I.C.A. […]

Yesterday over lunch we listened to a webinar by the National Organization of Social Security Claims Representatives on the status of bills in congress and proposed rule changes. There were large draconian changes in the hopper under the prior administration that will now never see the light of day. They were planning to eliminate reference […]

St. Louis Office Now Handling West Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri Cases:         After nine years of dealing with the Columbia Office of Hearings Operations (formerly known as the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review), jurisdiction for all the cases heard in Hannibal is returning to St. Louis Missouri. That means that […]

Click here  to read how you may be able to get your student loans discharged if you are determined to be disabled.

The biggest backlog in the government, Appeals pending at the Social Security Administration’s Office of Disablity Adjudicaiton and Review,  has now reached one million appeals according to a Audit Report completed by the Office of the Inspector General .  The average time to process claims has reacehd 450 days.  The Social Security Adminstration is strained […]

Sometimes those who intend to help really screw things up. A couple of social workers in a local Illinois agency were convinced that all attorneys want to do is drag out Social Security cases so they can get fees. In fact, they were convinced that the best way to get disability benefits was for their […]

Unfortunately, there is a group of people in Washington who want to radically alter or eliminate the Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs.  One of them, Senator Orin Hatch of Utah, was in the news recently citing an in-house study on overpayments to recipients of these programs and suggesting that Social Security […]