There are no definitive answers to this question. However, it generally takes the Administrative Law Judge (and his team) one to three months from the date of your hearing to issue a hearing decision. Keep in mind that the hearing decision is a long letter (typically 10-20 pages) that explains the rationale behind the Judge’s… Read more »
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Is The Solution To Merge Social Security Disability And Retirement?
We have heard continuous talk about the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) trust fund running out of money by 2016 in which those receiving benefits, who are unable to work, would see about a 20 percent cut in benefits. Although no one would claim that the Democrats are perfect, it remains a fact that the… Read more »
Social Security Disability Benefits for Terminal Illness (TERI)
To combat the backlog of nearly 700,000 claims and counting that are waiting for a hearing before the Social Security Administration (SSA), the federal agency has launched a number of initiatives to expedite Social Security Disability Insurance benefits to thousands of individuals. The requirements for disability benefits for a person with a terminal illness are… Read more »
How Many Republicans View Social Security Disability
It is not a secret for how Republicans in Congress and some Republican presidential contenders in 2016 feel about the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. Republicans have already announced they want changes to the program because there is too much “fraud” within the system and they question whether if many on disability are just… Read more »
State to State Social Security Process Can Be Different
As if the Social Security disability process wasn’t confusing enough, the federal agency, for some time now, has operated differently in deciding disability claims depending on which state a claimant lives in. This doesn’t sound logical, considering Social Security disability is a federal program, but it is true. The standards in which Social Security makes… Read more »
The Latest With Social Security
We realize it may be a stretch for ordinary people to want to keep up with the comings and goings of the Social Security Administration, but sometimes circumstances permit where someone does want to follow the latest news regarding the agency due to a possible retirement or disability interest. This blog is an ongoing piecemeal… Read more »
The Appeals Council Process
We have talked many times about the Social Security disability process from the initial application stage to a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), but we don’t often talk about something that may come after the ALJ hearing, the Appeals Council. Many people have misinformation or no information about what the Appeals Council’s function… Read more »
The Future of Social Security Disability Benefits
Each year, the trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds draft an annual report detailing the current and projected financial status of the Social Security program. The purpose of the report is to advise Congress on issues facing the program. In the most recent “Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal… Read more »
Spinocerebellar Ataxia (SCA) POMS: DI 23022.500
Ataxia is the scientific term for a lack of coordination or clumsiness. The part of the brain most commonly associated with coordination is the cerebellum. According to Social Security, Spinocerebellar Ataxia (SCA) refers to a group of genetic disorders characterized by slowly progressive difficulties with gait, hand movements, speech and abnormal eye movement. Spinocerebellar ataxia is… Read more »
More Specifics on Hearing Wait Times
During the Social Security Disability process you have to expect to do some waiting, a lot of it. The waiting game is no more evident than when you have filed a request for hearing before an administrative law judge. This is where the vast majority of disability claims end up, if a claimant keeps appealing… Read more »
