The Social Security Administration is soliciting comments from the public about a number of new forms and other information-gathering activities. Forms are being evaluated for efficiency and accuracy of information gathered.
See full list of forms and ways to comment here:
If you are nearing your full retirement age and are wondering if you should apply for Social Security benefits, you may want to consider this: you could earn delayed retirement credits by waiting to collect benefits. A disabled person may be able to collect disability benefits until retirment age.
Full story here:
From the blog of attorney Jonathan Ginsberg:
A January 21, 2006 email from Linda McMahon, SSA’s Deputy Commissioner for Operations, suggests that Medicare Part D issues are draining personnel time away from disability processing departments. The 800 number call centers are swamped as are Social Security district offices. With the SSA personnel focused on Medicare, delays in the SSDI processing continue to increase.
In addition, according to Representative Henry Waxman of California, Congress actually cut $200 million from SSA’s budget, further hampering SSA’s capacity to offer timely service.
These cuts and distractions all come at a time when SSA is rolling out another “new” disability determination process and is attempting to convert its paper filing system to electronic case files.
While I applaud Commissioner Barnhart for her efforts to cut the delays and improve the disability ajudication process, I hope that she has not bitten off more than she can chew.
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The Washington Post today reports that after winning greater freedom from federal Medicaid rules, states are moving aggressively to transform the nation’s largest public health insurance program, adding fees, restricting benefits and creating incentives for patients to take responsibility for their health.
The changes are just beginning in several states that are being watched closely by governors nationwide. Those changes are reshaping Medicaid, which covers 55 million poor and disabled Americans, so that the program more closely resembles private insurance, rather than a social welfare system run with a strong, central government hand.
New federal rules that require Medicaid recipients to prove their citizenship could push huge numbers of beneficiaries off state programs for the poor and disabled and into the ranks of the uninsured, health advocates warn. The law is designed to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving full Medicaid benefits.
The rules, approved in February and set to go into effect July 1, could have especially severe consequences in California, where 6.8 million people are enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid.
The Seattle Post Intelligencer’s article features Democratic lawmakers saying Congress will be working in the dark on big issues such as Social Security and Medicaid if the Census Bureau eliminates a unique survey of poverty and income. The Bush administration has proposed cutting the Survey of Income and Program Participation.
The Washington Post reports that a House panel on Wednesday approved a huge election-year bill that boosts spending for some domestic social programs while trying to cut popular items such as money for public broadcasting. The bill would add $184 million next year to help the Social Security Administration speed disability payments to recipients.
The Washington Post reports that a aHouse panel on Wednesday approved a huge election-year bill that boosts spending for some domestic social programs while trying to cut popular items such as money for public broadcasting. The bill would add $184 million next year to help the Social Security Administration speed disability payments to recipients.