From Charles Hall’s Social Security Blog: The Congressional Budget Office reports that only 15% of those who receive Veterans’ Disability benefits are also receiving Social Security disability benefits. It is unclear how many of these disabled veterans should be receiving Social Security disability benefits. Most of those on VA benefits receive only partial disability benefits, such as 10% or 20%, while Social Security disability benefits are either 100% or nothing. Also, many of the veterans are beyond Social Security’s full retirement age and can no longer be eligible for Social Security disability benefits.

See full article here:

The LA Times’ Liz Weston Pulliam addresses this question in her recent column:

Question: In the past, we’d heard that a bank account could be protected from creditors, U.S. Bankruptcy Court and other government authorities if it were set up to receive only Social Security funds.

For several years, we thought we had such an account, but now the bank denies that such protection is possible. We’re not facing any lawsuits or other problems, but we do wish to protect this money in the event of a catastrophe. Could you discuss this issue?
Read the answer here:

The New York Times reports that the Bush administration plans sweeping changes in Medicare payments to hospitals that could cut payments by 20 percent to 30 percent for many complex treatments and new technologies.

The changes, the biggest since the current payment system was adopted in 1983, are meant to improve the accuracy of payment rates. But doctors, hospitals and patient groups say the effects could be devastating.

Federal officials said that biases and distortions in the current system had created financial incentives for hospitals to treat certain patients, on whom they could make money, and to avoid others, who were less profitable.

See full article here:

By all accounts, he has been zealous and effective, perhaps a tad too much so. Over the years, he has taken the agency to task for a long list of alleged failings, both underpayments and overpayments. He often turned out to be right, but the unrelenting, sharp-edged nature of his critiques has left bruises…

Social Security officials acknowledge that some 500,000 people may have received less than they were due. The agency has cleared about 112,000 such cases and paid back benefits — a few hundred dollars in many cases, more than $200,000 in some — to 73,000 of them.

The individual cases are mind-numbingly complex. Social Security Commissioner Jo Anne B. Barnhart has assigned 537 caseworkers to untangle the remaining ones, a task that may take until 2010 or beyond. Initially, Barnhart said, she estimated it would take four to eight hours for an expert to complete a case. Now, she has raised her estimate to 12 to 20 hours.

See full article from Los Angeles Channel KTLA here: