What's A BNC?

     You may have noticed that correspondence from Social Security these days lacks a Social Security number. Instead there's a BNC. You may have even noticed that the BNC changes from time to time. What is this BNC?

    The BNC is an attempt to protect your security. They're afraid that correspondence intended for you will be stolen. With the name and Social Security number a person up to no good could try some form of identity theft. Instead they're substituting a number they create for you and they change it from time to time. They know who the BNC refers to. They don't expect you to remember your BNC or to use it.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-844-425-5347

Twelve Secrets For Doing Your Best At Your Social Security Disability Hearing

 

1. Don't dress up. It's not necessary. It tends to make you look healthier than you are.
2. Other than a wedding ring, leave the jewelry at home.
3. Keep makeup to a minimum.
4. No fancy fingernails.
   
5. To the extent it's practical, cover up tattoos.
6.  The hearing isn't a math test. You can't study for it.
7.  Tell the truth. If you're not going to win the case on the truth, you're not going to win the case. Telling the truth also means that you don't try to minimize your problems. If you want a fair decision, you have to tell the judge what's keeping you from working even though you might not want to admit to weakness. They're not handing out medals for bravery!
   
8.  If you don't remember something, just say you don't remember. If you don't know, say you don't know. That's part of telling the truth. 
9.  Don't worry about calling the judge "Your honor" or anything like that. Just be polite. 
10.  Don't worry if you can't remember dates. No one does. The judge has a lot of medical and other records that establish when things happened.
11. When you're asked a question, listen to it and answer just that question. Don't come in prepared with a speech you want to give. Just let your attorney shape the narrative and ask the questions that need to be asked and answered.
12.  Don't expect a decision on the date of the hearing because it's not likely to happen.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-844-425-5347

Getting Your Papers In Order

Tuesday Tips for the Frustrated Claimant

I frequently hear from people who have delayed filing because they want to get their papers together. My question is always, “What papers?”

There are no papers to gather before you file disability. When you put in a disability application, Social Security does the work of contacting the clinics, urgent cares, and hospitals where you have been treated. They gather the papers. All you have to do is sign release forms, state where you have been seen, and the approximate dates you were treated. You do not need to know specific dates of your appointments, sometimes all a person can recall is “winter last year” or even “one or two years ago” and it is enough to locate the medical records. 

If you have paperwork that you want to add to the claim, then this can be done after the application is filed. On average, after the application is filed, it takes over six months to get a decision. Send your papers after you file. For as long as it already takes, you do not want to add unnecessary time.

Bottom line: Do not delay filing your disability claim. Social Security will gather your papers. In the event that you need help, an experienced disability attorney can do it for you. If you are in North Carolina, we would be happy to help: 1-866-425-5347 is the number to call. If you want, we can call you:  www.hall-rouse.com is the website. You can do an online form giving us your contact information and we will reach out.

Why Does Social Security Turn Down So Many 100% Disabled Vets?

     Does it not seem odd that Social Security denies about 31% of disability claims filed by veterans with a 100% VA disability rating? Research was published on this 10 years ago. Nothing has changed since.

Higher Taxes On Billionaires To Support Social Security?

     According to a new opinion poll voters support higher taxes on billionaires in order to protect Social Security benefits. What do you think? I will say that whatever the merits of higher taxes on billionaires (and I think there's a lot of merit), it's going to take more than more taxes on billionaires.

    What do you think?

Creamy Or Crunchy?

I like creamy. You got a problem with that?

    Social Security Commissioner Martin O'Malley recently said that even though SSI “purports to be a program of last resort,” it “forces the poorest of people to jump through hoops, stand on their head and gargle peanut butter in order to qualify for it.”

Some Grim Numbers

 

Here's What's Going On At Ground Level At Social Security

     Here's a note made recently by an employee at my firm about a pending disability claim that may give you some idea of the state of service at Social Security :

TC [telephone call to] ____ DO [District Office] and she said there is an initial claim that has been sitting there since 7/14/2023. She is sending it to the CR [claims representative] Mr. ____ but he is off.

    In case you don't understand the context, the DO only takes the claims. They don't make medical determinations. Those are made at Disability Determination Services (DDS). Under normal circumstances -- which don't currently exist -- new claims are forwarded from the DO to DDS in a week or two. Even if there is some technical problem, the claim isn't supposed to be sitting at a DO for six months! 

    For this to happen there has to be no effective tickler system at the DO. I'm sure there's supposed to be one but it's broken down entirely under the enormous pressure of overwhelming workloads.

    I'm not even mad at the personnel involved because I have an idea of just how overwhelmed they are.  If a case happens to fall by the wayside now, we're just about at what I've described before as the "Not now. Not later. Not ever" stage of service. Problems aren't being straightened out.

    And please don't blame my firm. We've been trying for three months to find out what happened to the case. It's almost impossible to get anyone on the phone. There's no smart trick that solves cases like this. There's far too many of them. We're not supposed to be Social Security's tickler system anyway.

This Is What Social Security Calls The Waterfall Chart

     This is a chart showing what happens at each level of review in Social Security disability claims. Note that you have a much better chance of winning at the hearing level but you have to go through two time consuming steps before that. A lot of people get frustrated and give up. They try to go back to work but only last a short time before they're back starting all over again.

Click on image to view full size

Where's My Money?

     See the chart below. It's not just you. After deciding that someone is disabled Social Security keeps taking longer and longer to pay the benefits. This is really terrible for those approved for SSI benefits.

    Why? It's what I keep talking about. The agency doesn't have enough personnel to get the work done because Congress won't give them an adequate operating budget. Listen, I don't work for Social Security. If the problem was bad management at Social Security, I'd tell you but that's not the source of the problem.