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Category: SSA

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December 28, 2012

$773.2 billion paid out in 2012 to disabled people across nation

2012 was a good year for the estimated 8.82 million who received roughly $773.2 billion in benefits, says the Social Security Administration after totaling the numbers from the year. But with the Social Security program running a $47.8 billion deficit from the 2012 fiscal year, many are wondering what the Social Security disability program will look like in 2013. According to national data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was an average of 112.5 million full-time workers in 2011,...

December 21, 2012

SSA announces addition of 35 more compassionate allowances

For years now, people filing for disability benefits have had to wait in longer and longer lines as the list of claimants continues to grow. And even with the announcement of fast tracking applications, the backlog doesn't appear to be shrinking as quickly as the Social Security Administration had hoped. In another push to help disabled people collect their benefits faster, Michael J. Asture, the Commissioner of Social Security, announced this month that the SSA has added an additional 35...

December 7, 2012

UN disability rights treaty rejected by Senate

Bad news came to disabled people around the world when the United Nations-sponsored treaty for disabled-people's rights failed in the Senate this month. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was negotiated by President George W. Bush and was signed by President Barack Obama back in 2009. It was voted on Dec. 4 and failed by a 61-38 vote. The White House issued a statement saying it was "disappointed" that the treaty did not pass. Signed by 155...

November 9, 2012

SSA attempts to save money by cutting office hours

According to the Social Security Administration, they requested from the government roughly $11.76 billion for administrative expenses for the fiscal year that began in October. Instead, Congress cut the budget by almost $400 million leaving the administration in a rather difficult situation. Despite the recent go ahead from the government to approve more applications this year, claims are still mounting. Workers are constantly working overtime to keep up with the public demand which is costing the administration more money than...

August 31, 2012

Social Security Administration puts statements online

Illinois taxpayers who were upset when the Social Security Administration stopped mailing out annual personalized statements last year might be excited about the SSA's new online resources. A new Social Security Statement tool recently launched that will allow taxpayers to see all of their Social Security disability and retirement information at their leisure. Additionally, the SSA has changed course a bit and decided to mail paper statements to those workers who are not yet receiving benefits and are 60 or...

August 3, 2012

Baby boomers play big role in rise in benefits enrollment

The question has come up countless times in recent years: Why are so many more people applying for Social Security disability benefits than in years past? A recent study shows that it's a number of factors, including an aging baby boomer population and the number of women who have entered the workforce. The study, which was conducted by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, also found that the poor economy in recent years drove many to apply for benefits, and a...

July 11, 2012

Number of people on disability surpasses New York population

It's no secret that the number of Americans relying on Social Security disability payments has been increasing dramatically over the last few years. But here's a sobering statistic: The number of people in the U.S. who rely on such benefits has now passed the entire population of New York City. The population of the Big Apple, at least according to the last census, is about 8,244,910. The number of people receiving federal disability insurance payments in June of this year...

June 14, 2012

Court agrees with SSA, denies benefits to widow after in vitro

A case made headlines recently because many of the circumstances were perhaps unprecedented. A woman in another state used in vitro fertilization to conceive twins after her husband passed away. The Social Security Administration denied benefits for the twins, and now the Supreme Court has backed up that decision. Shortly after the couple was married in 1999, the husband was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. The wife gave birth to a son in 2001, and then the husband died in 2002....

May 24, 2012

SSA to judges: No more Internet when deciding disability cases

Social Security judges have been in the news a lot lately. Last week, we told you about how a judge was recently placed on leave. Now comes word that there some changes afoot regarding what judges are allowed to look at as evidence. Some Social Security disability claims judges say that they use the Internet as a tool to reveal fraud by claimants. But the Social Security Administration is putting the kibosh on judges using the Internet for that purpose....