http://www.disability-links.com/blog Current news items about Social Security Disabiity Law Tue, 06 May 2008 19:29:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en From Kathleen Pender in today’s San Francisco Chronicle: …How does the government assign these numbers? Is there anything you can tell about a person from his or her number? And in using the last two digits, is the IRS favoring one group over another? It turns out that the first three digits ... http://www.disability-links.com/blog/?p=273 Today’s The American Civil Liberties Union newsletter commends the House Ways and Means Committee for holding a hearing today on the backlog of Social Security disability claims. The ACLU has submitted a written statement to the committee. Social Security disability backlogs are at an all-time high, with the average wait ... http://www.disability-links.com/blog/?p=272 Bob Kraft’s blog reports on Average Processing Times For Social Security Disability Claims: The list of the most recently available average processing times for Social Security disability claims throughout the nation has been published by NOSSCR. The Dallas and Forth Worth offices rank closer to the top than to the ... http://www.disability-links.com/blog/?p=271 Fayetteville, New York (WSYR-TV) - If you get so sick or injured that you can’t work anymore, Social Security disability kicks in. But it may take a few months for benefits to go into effect. Currently, it takes nearly three months just to process disability applications. If they go to ... http://www.disability-links.com/blog/?p=270 From today’s Charlotte Observer: A leading group of occupational doctors is taking the unusual step of speaking out publicly against pressure from companies to downplay workplace injuries. To outline their concerns, the physicians have sent a letter to federal workplace safety regulators and held a conference session in New York ... http://www.disability-links.com/blog/?p=269 Reports that the Social Security system will soon run out of money have been greatly exaggerated. As surely as day follows night, the annual report from the board of trustees of the OASDI fund (Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance, otherwise known as Social Security) has brought forth alarms that ... http://www.disability-links.com/blog/?p=268 The Social Security system is choking on paperwork and spending millions of dollars a year screening dubious applications for disability benefits, according to lawsuits filed by whistle-blowers. Jessica Ortiz of San Diego said her disability insurer called more than 10 times after she was hurt in a car crash, insisting that ... http://www.disability-links.com/blog/?p=267 From the Kansas City Star: For years you’ve paid insurance premiums to protect yourself against unforeseen health problems. Yet when an accident or serious illness strikes, the insurer refuses to pay up. That’s essentially theft, the kind of thing people expect the government to step in and stop. But in this case, it ... http://www.disability-links.com/blog/?p=266 individual who earned credits 20 years ago may find that not all of them count. For example, consider the case of a 42-year-old woman who worked full-time from age 21 to 31 and thus earned 40 credits. She has twice the number of credits required to receive benefits if she ... http://www.disability-links.com/blog/?p=265 With waiting times ranging up into the 1000+ /day range in a few Hearing Offices, the backlog time has drawn extensive media coverage as the human suffering involved in these delays comes to light. Our national association of Social Security lawyers has posted this link, listing numerous TV, radio ... http://www.disability-links.com/blog/?p=264 Critics of Social Security and some of its friends often ask why its return on our investment, the years of payroll deductions, is so small. That would be a fair question if Social Security were an investment program, but it’s not. It’s more than that, much more. A unique new report ... http://www.disability-links.com/blog/?p=262 Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that the agency has begun making offers to 144 of the 175 new Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) it will hire this fiscal year. Due to litigation and budget cuts, the agency has about ten percent fewer ALJs than it did ... http://www.disability-links.com/blog/?p=261