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California SSI Recipient Starts Online Petitition to Protest Decreased Benefits

Aug 10

Posted by Hal LaPray in Disability News, Social Security Articles, Social Security Disability, Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

california-economyFran Cannon, a Californian who depends on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for her livelihood, has started an online petition to protest the recent reduction in Social Security disability benefits for SSI recipients in California.

"A key characteristic of a mature political society is the willingness and ability of that society to support those who cannot otherwise support themselves"

With California being faced with a budget crisis, steps have been taken to reduce payments of benefit recipients in that state.  While SSI is a federal program, many states supplement the monthly income benefit checks from their own budgets.  Recently the amount supplemented by California has been reduced two times, to levels that were extant four years ago.

This is such a shame.  A key characteristic of a mature political society is the willingness and ability of that society to support those who cannot otherwise support themselves.  People who live on Supplemental Income Benefits (SSI) are already faced with financial difficulties that few Americans truly understand.  These are people who have been declared wholly disabled and unable to earn a living, including people who are blind, elderly, or mentally disabled.

While economic downturns and budget shortfalls can be expected from time to time, one would certainly hope that our civic leaders and public officials would weigh very carefully all options, alternatives and consequences of such a decision, considering the social and economic ripple-effect impact across the spectrum.  Decisions like this should be made after all other solutions have either failed.

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Social Security Holds Compassionate Allowance Hearing For Early-Onset Alzheimers Patients

Aug 7

Posted by Hal LaPray in Alzheimer's Disease, Disability News, Diseases And Conditions, Social Security Disability

Social Security To Add Early Alzheimers To Compassionate Allowance Listings

Officials from the Social Security Administration met last month in an Outreach Hearing to discuss the idea of adding Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease and other related dementia illnesses to the Compassionate Allowance Listings.

Testimony was given by Harry Johns, President and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association.  In an effort to point out that Alzheimer’s Disease can strike before retirement age Mr. Johns stated, ” In the past 3 years, the Alzheimer’s Association has conducted Town Hall Meetings for people with early-stage Alzheimer’s and other dementias. More than half of the people with early-stage Alzheimer’s or dementia who participated in these meetings had been diagnosed before age 65.”

Mr. Johns continued by commenting on how individuals who are diagnosed with Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease encounter loss of job, income and health insurance.  “More importantly”, he continued,” we’ve heard a lot about problems many of them have had in applying for and being found eligible for Socil Security Disability Income (SSDI).”

In a March 2008 CBS News report, Dr. Alan Levey, director of Alzheimer’s Research at Emory University stated, “People are still working, then have families, it affects them in amuch different way than if they had been retired for ten years as is often the case.”  Approximately ten percent of all Alzheimer’s patients contract the disease before age 65, and although it is rare, some patients contract the disease in their 50’s.  

Compassionate Allowance Listings are a way that the Social Security Administration can quickly identify diseases and conditions that ultimately will qualify under the Listing of Impairments.  The initial list contained 50 conditions and hearings are held to discuss making additions from time to time.

You can watch the videocast of the hearing here.

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Increasing Claims Puts New Pressures on Social Security

Aug 6

Posted by Hal LaPray in Disability News, Retirement, Social Security Disability

Social Security Filings On The Rise

Social Security Disability Claims On The Rise

Recent efforts by the Social Security Administration to cut through a massive backlog of disability claims is being tempered by a sharp, spiked rise in applications this year.  Experts blame the current economic downturn, and the expansive increase in applications shows no signs of slowing.

Last March, The Social Security Administration revealed that as many as 3 million new applications were expected in 2009, however this week the Associated Press reported that SSA officials are now expecting more than 3.3 million claims to be filed.

As one would expect, the surge in filings has increased the backlog of those waiting to have their disability claim processed by a whopping 30 percent.

The Social Security Disability Program Under Fire

In today’s hostile, polarized political climate, many things are said about the viability and long-term sustainability of the Social Security benefits programs.  News networks, television reports, radio personalities and political pundits take extreme positions on whether the Social Security disability program needs a complete overhaul to avoid total collapse, or whether the program simply needs fine-tuning to stay afloat. Economists and financial experts disagree on most of these matters, indicating that in truth, no one really knows for sure.

Social Security Facts

The Social Security benefits program is a pay-as-you-go service.  In other words, the benefits received by today’s retirees and disabled are paid for by today’s workers.  As more people retire or become disabled, more workers are needed to pay into the program.  As life expectancy increases and as birth rates decline, then the amount of money that’s needed to sustain the program must increase per capita.  Over time, there will be fewer workers to support more disabled and retired persons.

Projections About Social Security’s Future

Based on workforce trends and rate of increasing filings, the Social Security Administration predicts that as soon as 2017 there will not be enough workers to support the number of retirees and disabled benefit recipients.  However, a Social Security trust fund exists (at least on the general ledger) that is supposed to be credited by today’s payroll surpluses, pushing sustainability predictions to 2041.  Many analysts do not believe that the program will remain viable for that long without deep, fundamental changes.  Others claim that the skeptics are merely fear-mongers, trying to stir up controversy and debate for political gain.

Many academic political scientists argue that it is probably safe to simply trust the Social Security Administration’s predictions on the matter.  It has been said that that any federal bureaucracy’s first goal is to remain solvent, and any underestimation of future fiscal needs would only serve to injure the administration’s need for survival.

Ultimately, members of Congress appear to unanimously support the program as a whole, and history shows that legislators tend to work together when it comes to maintaining social programs that benefit all Americans regardless of social class or political affiliation.  And, although the prescription for a long-term solution is uncertain, most agree that the prognosis is good.

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Cancer-Stricken Social Security Claimant Makes YouTube Plea To Obama

Jul 24

Posted by Hal LaPray in Disability News, Social Security Disability

Illness, Pain, Misdiagnosis & Denial

Gayle DeVilbiss, a 54 year-old woman in Arizona, was originally diagnosed with fibromyalgia back in 2007.  She applied for Social Security benefits and was denied. Then, after various treatments and further study, Ms. DeVilbiss learned that she was actually suffering from Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a serious form of cancer requiring chemotherapy and other long-term treatments.

After starting her regimen of routine treatments, her immune system became depleted and she needed more medication to keep her healthy while the chemotherapy went to work destroying the cancer cells.  Soon the pain set in.  Nausea, fatigue and other physical ailments only added to the mental and emotional anxiety and constant worry.

Understandably, Ms. DeVilbiss was completely unable to work.  Once again, she applied for Social Security Disability benefits, but within weeks she received a notice indicating that her disability benefits were denied based on the fact that her regimen of treatment is not expected to last more than 12 months.

The law as currently written states that a person is eligible for Social Security disability benefits if that person suffers from a severe impairment, is unable to work because of the severe impairment, and the impairment is expected to last for at least 12 months or result in death.

In her video to the president, Ms. DeVilbiss states, “I just don’t understand what [diagnosis] you have to have to get Social Security disability. I can’t work right now. I may be able to work in a year, I don’t know. I may be able to work six months from now.  But right now I can’t work. “

“I don’t feel 100 percent. I don’t feel seventy five percent, and I don’t feel even fifty percent of what I used to feel. I just need some help now”, she contined.

The sad truth is that there is no employer that would knowingly employ a person with the current diagnosis and set of symptoms displayed by this woman.  In an interview with a local news station, Ms. DeVilbiss pointed out that she’s constantly fatigued and most days has to be on oxygen; a result of her treatment program for the cancer.

There are no easy answers, it’s true.  However, we can’t ignore situations such as these. Confronting flaws and shortcomings in the Social Security programs is the only way to really incite change and improvement in the government services that we all sacrifice to support.

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Senate Mulls Social Security Reform Ideas

Jul 14

Posted by Hal LaPray in Disability News, Retirement, Social Security Articles, Social Security Disability

The Senate Aging Committee Discusses Social Security Benefits

The Senate Aging Committee Discusses Social Security Benefits

While no new bills have been presented to either houses of Congress, the U.S. Senate held a Special Committee meeting last month to discuss better ways of implementing the Social Security benefits program for those who need it the most, the fastest.

At issue was the current state of the economy and how the recession has forced more Americans to file for Social Security disability or Retirement benefits in order to pay the bills.

“Social Security was designed in another era. We need to make sure that the most vulnerable in our society are not left behind as we examine ways to strengthen the program”

The Senate Aging Committee discussed the country’s increasing dependence on Social Security in addition to the federal program’s long-term sustainability and it’s efficiency.

The Senate Aging Committee Chairman, Senator Herb Kohl, D-Wisc. was quoted as saying”The impact of the financial downturn provides a stark contrast to the dependability of Social Security, and it is also the reason that the program’s guaranteed, inflation-protected benefits are more vital to Americans now than ever.”

Those present at the hearing debated ways to improve the system in order to bring it more in line with the needs of today’s families.  “… as crucial as the program is today, the fact is that it was designed in another era. We need to make sure that the most vulnerable in our society are not left behind as we examine ways to strengthen the program”, Kohl continued.

Present at the meeting included Leon Burzynski (the president of the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans), former Social Security Administration commissioner, Kenneth Apfel, and Joan Entmacher, of the National Women’s Law Center.

“We need to ask a series of questions — whether Social Security continues to be a benefit people can count on; whether the elderly, disabled and survivors of workers are protected from financial hardship; whether the program is efficient, universal and fair; and whether the program is maintained as a basic public trust,” Apfel stated.  The former commissioner was able to give a detailed overview of the need to efficiently deliver benefits to survivors, disable workers and retirees who rely on Social Security benefits to make ends meet.

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