Social Security Releases 2021 Trustees’ Report

Each year the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds report on the current and projected financial status of the two programs. The reports include extensive information about the current operations of these important social insurance programs and careful analysis of their outlook. The purpose of the reports is to present the current and projected financial condition of the programs.

Social Security and Medicare both face long-term financing shortfalls under currently scheduled benefits and financing. Both programs will experience cost growth substantially in excess of GDP growth through the mid-2030s due to rapid population aging. Medicare also sees its share of GDP grow through the late 2070s due to projected increases in the volume and intensity of services provided.

The data and projections presented include the Trustees’ best estimates of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 recession, which were not reflected in last year’s reports. The finances of both programs have been significantly affected by the pandemic and the recession of 2020. Employment, earnings, interest rates, and GDP dropped substantially in the second calendar quarter of 2020 and are assumed to rise gradually thereafter toward full recovery by 2023. In addition, the Trustees also project elevated mortality rates related to the pandemic through 2023 as well as reductions in immigration and childbearing in 2021-22 from the levels projected in the 2020 reports, with compensating increases a few years later. These alterations to near-term data and assumptions all significantly impact the outlook of the programs.

Given the unprecedented level of uncertainty, the Trustees currently assume that the pandemic will have no net effect on the individual long-range ultimate assumptions. At this time, there is no consensus on what the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the long-term experience might be, if any. The Trustees will continue to monitor developments and modify the projections in later reports.

Based on the Trustees’ best estimates, the 2021 reports show:

• The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, which pays retirement and survivors benefits, will be able to pay scheduled benefits on a timely basis until 2033, one year earlier than reported last year. At that time, the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing tax income will be sufficient to pay 76 percent of scheduled benefits.
• The Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund, which pays disability benefits, will be able to pay scheduled benefits until 2057, 8 years earlier than in last year’s report. At that time, the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing tax income will be sufficient to pay 91 percent of scheduled benefits.
• The Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund, or Medicare Part A, which helps pay for services such as inpatient hospital care, will be able to pay scheduled benefits until 2026, the same year as reported last year. At that time, the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing total program income will be sufficient to pay 91 percent of total scheduled benefits.
• The Trustees are including in the report for the fifth consecutive year a determination of projected excess general revenue Medicare funding, as is required by law whenever annual tax and premium revenues of the combined Medicare funds will be below 55 percent of projected combined annual outlays within the next seven fiscal years. Under the law, two consecutive such determinations, as is the case again this year, constitute a “Medicare funding warning.” Under current law and the Trustees’ projections, such determinations and warnings will recur every year through the long-range projection period.

One of our staff writers recently had an article publishes outlining several proposed reforms to Social Security, including a bill that would create targeted “rescue committees” to address the solvency of the Social Security trust fund. (Read her article here: https://www.disabilitysecrets.com/resources/social-security-disability-reforms.html) 

Read more about the Trustees’ Report here: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/ ; https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2021-medicare-trustees-report.pdf

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

By: Devon Brady of Premier Disability Services, LLC®

Social Security Disability Benefits for Lupus

Lupus is a chronic disease that can cause inflammation and pain in any part of your body. It is considered an autoimmune disease, which means that your immune system — the body system that usually fights infections — attacks healthy tissue instead. Lupus most commonly affects your skin, joints, and internal organs. Because it can affect many parts of the body, it can cause a variety of different symptoms, such as: fatigue, headaches, joint pain, fever, edema, hair loss, and abnormal blood clotting.

Nobody knows what causes lupus, but it and other autoimmune diseases do tend to run in families. Experts also think it may develop in response to certain hormones or environmental triggers. An environmental trigger is something outside the body that can bring on symptoms of lupus — or make them worse. Lupus is not contagious.

There are two ways you can qualify for Social Security Disability benefits for lupus. You can either (1) meet the requirements of a listing set out in Social Security’s list of qualifying impairments, or (2) show that you are unable to work due to your limitations.

Lupus is one of the diseases specifically notated in Social Security’s listing of impairments. To qualify as disabled under this listing, you must meet the following requirements:

• Your lupus must affect at least two body systems or organs, (such as the kidneys and the lungs, or the heart and the brain), with at least one involved to a moderate level of severity; and
• Your lupus must cause at least two of the following symptoms: severe fatigue, fever, malaise (feelings of physical discomfort or illness resulting in low physical or mental activity), and/or involuntary weight loss.

OR

• You must have repeated symptoms of lupus, with at least two of the symptoms above, resulting in one of the following limitations at the marked level: 
  • Limitations of activities of daily living
  • Limitation in maintaining social functioning
  • Limitation in completing tasks in a timely manner due to lack of focus or ability to work quickly.

You can also qualify for Social Security Disability for lupus if you can prove that you are unable to work due to the health problems caused by lupus. For example, an individual with lupus might have the following physical symptoms: fatigue, chest pain, shortness of breath, headaches, and abnormal heart rhythms. These limitations can make it difficult to stand or walk for a lengthy period of time, which rules out many jobs. Furthermore, those with lupus may suffer personality changes, including anxiety and depression, and may have difficulty concentrating or have increased forgetfulness. Social Security will take these limitations into account when deciding if the applicant can do even simple, routine tasks that don’t require skill. 

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

Learn more about lupus: https://www.lupus.org/resources/what-is-lupus 

Adult Listing for lupus: https://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/14.00-Immune-Adult.htm#14_02 

By: Joyce Trudeau of Premier Disability Services, LLC®

Social Security Expands Compassionate Allowances Program

Earlier this week, Kilolo Kijakazi, the new Acting Commissioner of Social Security, announced 12 new Compassionate Allowances conditions: Charlevoix Saguenay Spastic Ataxia (ARSACS), Choroid Plexus Carcinoma, CIC-rearranged Sarcoma, Congenital Zika Syndrome, Desmoplastic Mesothelioma, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy – Adult, Pericardial Mesothelioma, Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma, Renpenning Syndrome, SCN8A Related Epilepsy with Encephalopathy, SYNGAP1-related NSID, and Taybi-Linder Syndrome. The Compassionate Allowances program is an initiative that quickly identifies severe medical conditions and diseases that meet Social Security’s standards for disability benefits.

“Everyone who is eligible for benefits under the programs we administer should receive them,” said Acting Commissioner Kijakazi. “Our Compassionate Allowances program helps us address barriers by helping accelerate the disability application process for people who are likely to get approved for benefits due to the severity of their medical condition.”

The Compassionate Allowances program quickly identifies claims where the applicant’s condition or disease clearly meets Social Security’s statutory standard for disability. Due to the severe nature of many of these conditions, these claims are often allowed based on medical confirmation of the diagnosis alone; for example, certain cancers, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and a number of rare disorders that affect children. To date, more than 700,000 people with severe disabilities have been approved through this accelerated, policy-compliant disability process, which has grown to a total of 254 conditions. 

When a person applies for disability benefits, Social Security must obtain medical records in order to make an accurate determination. The agency incorporates leading technology to identify potential Compassionate Allowances cases and make quick decisions. Social Security’s Health IT brings the speed and efficiency of electronic medical records to the disability determination process. With electronic records transmission, Social Security is able to quickly obtain a claimant’s medical information, review it, and make a fast determination.

For more information about the program, including a list of all Compassionate Allowances conditions, please visit www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances. 

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®