Social Security Honors Military Heroes

Reposted from May, 2021

On Memorial Day, our nation honors military service members who have given their lives for our country. As former President Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men (and women) have died to win them.” This is why families, friends, and communities come together to remember the great sacrifices of our military members and ensure their legacies live on.

The benefits that the Social Security Administration (SSA) provides can help the surviving families of deceased military service members. For example, widows, widowers, and their dependent children may be eligible for Social Security survivors’ benefits. You can learn more about those benefits at www.ssa.gov/survivors.

The SSA also offers support to our wounded warriors. Social Security benefits protect veterans when injuries prevent them from returning to active duty or performing other work. Both the Department of Veteran Affairs and Social Security have disability programs. You may qualify for disability benefits through one program but not the other, or you may qualify for both. Depending on your situation, some members of your family, including your dependent children or spouse, may be eligible to receive Social Security benefits.

Wounded military service members can also receive expedited processing of their Social Security disability claims. If you are a veteran with a 100% Permanent & Total compensation rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the SSA will expedite your disability claim.

Want more information about how the SSA can help? Visit www.ssa.gov/woundedwarriors for answers to commonly asked questions or to find information about the application process.

Thinking about retirement or know a veteran who is? Military service members can receive Social Security benefits in addition to their military retirement benefits. For details, visit the SSA’s web page for veterans, available at www.ssa.gov/people/veterans.

Please share this information with the military families you know. We honor and thank the veterans who bravely served and died for our country and the military service members who serve today.

Source: https://www.redbluffdailynews.com/2021/05/27/social-security-honors-military-heroes/

Patricia Mrofka is the Social Security manager in Redding.

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®

April is National Minority Health Month

With the nation advised to stay in and around their homes, this National Minority Health Month the Office of Minority Health (OMH) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will highlight the theme Active & Healthy and focus on safe ways all communities can stay physically active and advance mental and emotional wellness.

“Join us throughout April as we encourage everyone to take simple and creative steps to stay active and support physical, mental and emotional wellness. This year, we invite everyone to join #ActiveandHealthy, a national social media campaign that will focus on the steps the nation can take every day in and around the home to keep our minds and bodies active, consistent with the social distancing guidelines to stop the spread of COVID-19. Daily themes will highlight simple steps people can take to maintain and sustain an active and healthy lifestyle while reducing stress and anxiety.”

#ActiveandHealthy will promote and share the steps we can take each day to stay active and healthy during #NMHM2020 and throughout the year. The campaign will include creative ways to keep older adults and children safe and physically engaged, along with ideas to stay connected with friends, family and communities.

Remember—becoming active and healthy in and around your home to stay physically and mentally well, while doing your part to slow the spread of COVID-19, is possible through simple changes to your daily routine—so get involved this #NMHM2020.

See more here: https://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/nmhm/index.html

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®

Can I Fast Track My Disability Claim Based on My Condition?

There are hundreds of illnesses and disorders, as well as certain medical and personal circumstances, that may qualify you for expedited processing of a claim for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). There are also procedures for fast-tracking applications for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a benefit program for low-income people who are disabled, blind or over 65 that is administered by the Social Security Administration.

Social Security’s Compassionate Allowances (CAL) program maintains a list of conditions* that can shorten the processing time for disability claims from months to a matter of days. The roster includes fast-moving cancers, immune-system and neurodegenerative diseases, rare genetic disorders and other illnesses that by definition meet Social Security’s standard for disability: They prevent sufferers from working or are likely to result in death.

You do not have to apply specially for a compassionate allowance. Social Security uses a software system to identify applications that cite impairments on the CAL list. Whether you qualify for a quick decision depends on your diagnosis and its severity­. More than 600,000 people have received accelerated approval through the program, according to the Social Security Administration.

Social Security uses another electronic system, Quick Disability Determination (QDD), to screen applications for disability benefits or SSI that are filed online. QDD scans for key words and phrases that indicate a claim is highly likely to be approved, and it checks that the application includes all required documentation. These cases are marked for quicker processing. Applications that are not filed electronically are reviewed by claims examiners, who can also flag them for fast-track status.

Social Security has several other programs and procedures to speed up particular disability claims:

• Applications that indicate the claimant’s condition has reached a terminal stage can be moved to the front of the line. Certain situations — for example, a metastasized cancer, or a patient in hospice care — trigger automatic fast-tracking. These claims are designated as TERI cases.
• Circumstances that don’t involve specific diseases or terminal conditions can also merit expedited processing: a low-birth-weight infant, for instance, or a disability claimant in imminent danger of becoming homeless.
• If you are an SSI applicant with one of about 15 severe physical or intellectual impairments — among them amputation, Down syndrome, total blindness or deafness, and HIV/AIDS — Social Security may find you have a “presumptive disability.” This qualifies you for up to six months of benefits while your claim wends its way through the lengthy review process.
• Social Security can also expedite SSDI and SSI claims for veterans who became disabled while on active duty. The disability need not have occurred in the course of military action — for example, it could be the result of an injury while on leave — but it must have occurred since Oct. 1, 2001. Be sure to notify Social Security at the start of the application process that the condition stems from your period of service.

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

*See the full Compassionate Allowance List here: https://www.ssa.gov/compassionateallowances/conditions.htm

By: Joyce Trudeau of Premier Disability Services, LLC®