Trump Administration Proposes Rule Change That Could Cut Off Disabled Recipients

The Trump administration is proposing changes to Social Security that could terminate disability payments to hundreds of thousands of Americans, particularly older people and children.

The new rule would change aspects of disability reviews — the methods by which the Social Security Administration determines whether a person continues to qualify for benefits. Few recipients are aware of the proposal, which is open for public comment through January.

Merely getting benefits in the first place is an extraordinarily difficult task, often taking years and requiring applicants to compile reams of documents, then state and restate their cases in front of hearing officers, adjudicators, and judges.

Those already receiving disability benefits are subject to continuing disability reviews, or CDRs, which determine whether they are still deserving of compensation for an injury, illness, or other incapacitating problem as their lives progress.

Not everyone gets reviewed within the same time frame. For example, a person with a grave illness such as Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) is placed in a category called “Medical Improvement Not Expected,” and is subject to review every five to seven years. A low-birth-weight baby, on the other hand, may be categorized as “Medical Improvement Expected,” and would be reviewed every six to 18 months, because growth and change are anticipated. The third category is “Medical Improvement Possible.”

The proposed rule change would create a fourth category: “Medical Improvement Likely,” which would mandate disability reviews every two years, creating an additional 2.6 million reviews over the first 10-year period. An estimated 4.4 million beneficiaries would be included in that designation, many of them children and so-called “Step 5 recipients”, individuals who are typically 50-65 years of age, in poor health, and without much education or many job skills.

The inclusion of Step 5 people in the “Medical Improvement Likely” category appears to make little sense, advocates for recipients say. Medical conditions generally deteriorate as already unhealthy people age, and no evidence exists that such beneficiaries are “likely” to improve.

Compelling Step 5 recipients to be reviewed every two years shows “a hostility toward the basic Social Security Act, which takes a holistic view of the individual,” said Jonathan Stein, a former Community Legal Services attorney. He said he believes the ultimate aim of the rule is to review Step 5 recipients so often that they ultimately lose their benefits because of the difficulties complying with the review process.

View the proposed rule and comment here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/11/18/2019-24700/rules-regarding-the-frequency-and-notice-of-continuing-disability-reviews

Contact our office today if you or anyone you know would like to learn more about qualifying for Social Security Disability benefits.

Source: https://www.inquirer.com/news/social-security-ssi-ssdi-trump-administration-disability-20191212.html

By: Joyce Trudeau of Premier Disability Services, LLC®

Social Security Expands Field Office Hours

Currently, a Social Security field office is generally open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to only 12:00 p.m. on Wednesdays. Beginning on January 8, 2020, offices will remain open until 4:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, with typical field office hours from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. This change restores Wednesday public service hours that were last in place in late 2012.

In addition to expanding hours of service, the agency will be hiring 1,100 front line employees to provide service on the National 800 Number and in its processing centers. The agency is currently bringing onboard 100 new processing center employees and approximately 500 new teleservice representatives for the 800 Number. An additional 500 hires for the 800 Number will occur later in 2020.

“Improving service is my top priority. Increasing full public service hours at our nationwide network of more than 1,200 field offices is the right thing to do and will provide additional access,” Commissioner Saul said. “The hiring of a thousand new employees to provide service through our National 800 Number, and an additional 100 hires to process people’s Social Security benefits at our processing centers around the country are steps in the right direction in our mission to greatly improve the service we provide.”

Contact our office today if you or anyone you know would like to learn more about qualifying for Social Security Disability benefits.

Find your local office here: https://www.ssa.gov/locator/

Full press release: https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/2019/#12-2019-1

By: Joyce Trudeau of Premier Disability Services, LLC®

The Alleged Onset Date

The alleged onset date, or AOD, is the date that you claim (“allege”) that your disability began. This date is important from an eligibility standpoint, and it can also affect the amount of retroactive benefits, or backpay, that you may be entitled to.

To be eligible for disability benefits, your medical condition or conditions must put you out of work (or be expected to put you out of work) for at least 12 months. You should therefore allege an onset date that coincides with when you stopped working or became no longer able to work, even if you were diagnosed with your condition(s) much earlier.

For Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claims, you become entitled to benefits either one year before your application date or five full months after the onset of your disability, whichever is the latest in time. For Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims, you become entitled to benefits either from the date of your application or the date you became disabled, again whichever is the latest in time.

If the Social Security Administration (SSA) disagrees with the date you say you became disabled, it can establish a later onset date. When the SSA sets the onset date, it is then called the established onset date (EOD), rather than the alleged onset date (AOD). However, the SSA has to have contrary medical evidence to show that your alleged date is wrong and that its EOD is correct.

To determine your EOD, the SSA will look at your AOD, when you last worked, and what the medical evidence shows. For example, if the SSA finds that you went back to work for some time period after applying for benefits, the agency will likely give the applicant an EOD of the date the applicant last worked this job. (However, a claimant who applies for benefits because of an inability to work and then tries to go back to work and fails might be able to claim an “unsuccessful work attempt” and keep the original alleged onset date.)

If the SSA changes your AOD to a later EOD, causing you to lose some backpay, you can appeal the decision by asking Disability Determination Services (DDS) to do a reconsideration of your claim. Or, if you are at the hearing level, you can ask an administrative law judge or the Appeals Council to review the EOD. But beware: when you appeal the onset date, the reviewing body could potentially reverse your approval. Moreover, sometimes when the SSA changes your AOD to a later EOD, it may still be more than 17 months earlier than the date you applied for disability benefits. In this case, the change in date won’t matter, since you can’t get paid backpay benefits for more than 12 months before your application date (plus the five-month waiting period).

Contact our office today if you or anyone you know would like to learn more about qualifying for Social Security Disability benefits.

By: Joyce Trudeau of Premier Disability Services, LLC®