Help Yourself

    Many clients arrive at our firm in desperate financial shape. Most of the this can be attributed to two problems -- waiting too long to file a claim for Social Security disability benefits and the delays at Social Security. However, there are often other problems because the claimant never realized that help was also available from other sources. Let's list some of these other sources of help for disabled people:

• Medicaid -- If you're even moderately poor, file a claim with Social Services, not Social Security. This gets you access to health care.
• Short or Long Term Disability benefits from your employer -- Were you covered by a pension plan where you worked? If so, you were probably covered by a Short or Long Term Disability plan. Ask about it. If you are covered, it will give you a regular income.
• Food Stamps -- If you're even moderately poor, file a claim with Social Services, not Social Security. Don't drain your savings to buy food.
  
• VA benefits -- Are you an honorably discharged vet? Are you eligible for service connected disability benefits? Are you sure you're not? It doesn't have to be an injury caused by military service. An auto accident off base that caused injuries that still bother you could be enough. It doesn't have to be an injury at all. Any medical condition that started while in military service would be enough. For that matter, there's non-service connected disability benefits for poor vets who served during time of war.
• Social Security retirement benefits -- If you're over 62 you don't have to choose between retirement and disability benefits. Take the retirement benefits now and try to get on the disability benefits which are likely to be higher but to take longer.

    Many of my clients rely upon help from relatives and friends. I often ask them "Do you really want to test exactly how deeply they love you?" Get as much help as you can from other sources.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

Get Down In The Weeds

    Let's say you want to really get down in the weeds on Social Security matters. Here's a few places you can go online to see what's happening at the agency that administers Social Security:

• Congressional Research Service -- Posts reports on all kind of things, including Social Security. Tends to be written at the elementary level since they're writing for members of Congress and their staffs.
• FOIA Reading Room -- Social Security posts some of their more popular responses to Freedom of Information requests.
• HALLEX -- An manual for agency employees working on hearings and appeals.
• POMS Recent Changes -- POMS is Social Security's main staff manual.
• ALJ Discussion Board -- Where some of the agency's Administrative Law Judges go to talk about agency matters but it's mostly for wannabe ALJs.
• Disability Stats -- Statistics on Social Security disability claims.
• Emergency Messages -- Important staff instructions but usually not really about emergencies.
• Federal Register -- Where official notices are posted.
• OIG Reports -- Where the agency's Office of Inspector General posts reports on investigations they have completed.
• OMB Regs Review -- Changes to regulations that Social Security has asked the Office of Management and Budget to review.
• Social Security Contracting -- Where Social Security posts information about contractors they are seeking.
  

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

Top Five Myths About Social Security

    Michelle Singletary at the Washington Post writes about these top five myths about Social Security:

• Myth No. 1: Social Security is, or will be, ‘bankrupt’

• Myth No. 2: Young adults won’t benefit from Social Security

• Myth No. 3: A shortfall makes collecting early a wiser move

• Myth No. 4: The federal government has raided the Social Security Trust Fund
  

• Myth No. 5: Members of Congress don’t pay Social Security taxes

    Four of these five myths share something in common. They're spread by opponents of the existence of Social Security.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

You Don't Have To Pay Upfront To Hire A Social Security Attorney

     You can't be too poor to hire an attorney to represent you on your Social Security disability claim. There's no upfront money to be paid. The attorney gets one-quarter of the back benefits that have accumulated up to the date you get approved. You also have to reimburse the law firm for anything they'd had to pay to obtain medical records. There's no fee if you lose.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

A Poll

online polls

 

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

You're Not The Only One Waiting And Waiting

 

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

"What Do They Want Me To Do?"

    Many of my clients ask me "What do they want me to do?" These clients' financial situations are rapidly deteriorating. They're desperate to receive the benefits they need and deserve so they can avoid complete destitution.

    The question assumes that someone at Social Security actually cares about their fate. Unfortunately, no one at Social Security cares. They just do their jobs as best they can in an overwhelmed system that wasn't set up to care about individual claimants. 

    Unfortunately, the answer to that question "What do they want me to do?" is that if they want anything it's for you to go away and quit bothering them. You have to have the courage to say "I'm not going anywhere. I'm sticking it out until I get the benefits I deserve."

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

N.C. Medicaid Now Covers Weight Loss Drugs

    N.C. Medicaid is now covering GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy. There are many severely obese N.C. residents who are on Medicaid who might benefit from such drugs.

    The odd thing about this is that the N.C. state employees health care insurance was recently changed to deny coverage for Wegovy and similar drugs.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

Who Runs The Show At Social Security?

Martin O'Malley

    The guy running the show at Social Security is Martin O'Malley. He's the Commissioner of Social Security. He's a former governor of the State of Maryland. 

    O'Malley is no dictator. For some things, he needs the approval of the White House. More important, Congress has to appropriate operating funds for the Social Security Administration. Lack of adequate operating funds really limits what O'Malley can do. He'd like to hire about 10,000 more employees so the phones get answered and you can be seen quickly if you visit a Social Security office and so that the current backlogs throughout the agency disappear but Congress won't let him. Don't blame O'Malley for all the backlogs and service problems at Social Security. It's not his fault. Blame Congress.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

What Happens If I Die Before Social Security Finds Me Disabled?

     The fact that I hear this question fairly regularly tells me that many people who file Social Security disability claims feel gloomy. I wish I could cheer you up and tell you this never happens but it does, probably not nearly as often as you think, but it happens and there are rules for what Social Security does when it happens.  I have to divide the answers up into SSI and non-SSI Social Security disability claims since there are different rules.

Non-SSI Social Security disability claims -- Disability Insurance Benefits, Disabled Widow and Widower Benefits, Disabled Adult Child Benefits -- The money is paid per a list of priorities written into the Security Act. Here are the priorities:

1. The surviving spouse who was either living in the same household as the deceased at the time of death or who, for the month of death, was entitled to a monthly benefit on the same record as the deceased;
2. Children who, for the month of death, were entitled to a monthly benefit on the same record as the deceased;
3. Parents who, for the month of death, were entitled to a monthly benefit on the same record as the deceased;
4. A surviving spouse not qualified under 1. above;
5. Children not qualified under 2. above;
6. Parents not qualified under 3. above; or
7. The legal representative of the deceased person's estate.

     If more than one person qualifies in the category, such as two or more children, they split the amount of back benefits between them.

SSI Disability Claims -- For adults who have died, the only person to whom the back benefits can be paid is a surviving spouse who was living with the decedent at the time of death or within six months prior to death. If there isn't a qualifying surviving spouse, the benefits aren't paid. For child SSI claimants (and we're really getting gloomy here) back benefits can be paid to a parent who was living with the child at the time of death or within six months prior to the date of death.

There's an application form for the back benefits when someone with a Social Security disability claim dies.

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