If this sounds like something for coin collectors in Alaska, bear with us here…

Ever you wonder why a person who is already receiving a private disability payment should apply for Social Security disability benefits, here are some facts. These other disability payments might be coming from workers compensation, the VA, a private long term disability plan, or even a settlement from an injury lawsuit. There are several factors that make concurrent Social Security disability eligibility beneficial.

• We each pay in to the Social Security system, buying what are called “covered quarters”. If you earn $980 in a quarter in 2009, you buy coverage for that quarter. These covered quarters maintain your eligibility for Social Security disability, much as an insurance policy payment would.

• A worker needs coverage in 20 out of the last 40 quarters (5 out of the last 10 years) in order to be eligible for disability payments, with some exceptions for very young workers.

• If you have been found disabled by Social Security, the quarters for which you get benefits are called “frozen quarters,” and do not count against you as uninsured time periods, either at retirement or for future disability claims.

• Typically other private disability programs pay benefits, but no FICA taxes. No “quarters” are purchased because no FICA taxes are paid, and Social Security disability eligibility can lapse.

• Other disability programs may not provide medical insurance coverage. The Medicare benefits that come with Social Security disability benefits may cover some unreimbursed medical expenses, and last longer.

• If you stop working and paying FICA taxes, your eligibility for Social Security disability lapses after five years, like an insurance policy would terminate for lack of payment. This means that you cannot draw disability payments, no matter how many years you worked prior to that. (There are exceptions if your disability onset can be shown to be within the covered period.) Your Social Security taxes remain in your account until retirement.

This could also reduce the eventual amount of your retirement benefit, because there would be a long period with no covered quarters.

Social Security is calibrated to calculate appropriate offsets – to workers comp, state benefit programs and VA benefits. Private disability programs usually require an application for Social Security disability and then do their own offsets. A disabled person should always apply for every available benefit.

A few weeks ago, prolific blogger Justin Hayford at the Chicago AIDS Legal Council (http://alcc-legalpad.blogspot.com/) posted a terrific article on how to get presumptive benefits when applying for Social Security disability. This means that they give you your benefits NOW, and verify the medical records later. As you can imagine, it is reserved for serious and immediately apparent situations, but he argues it is under-used. With his permission we share it here, it has valuable information about this little-used corner of disability law:

The Washington Post had a good column the other day, revisiting the spectre of investing the federal Social Security funds in the stock market. Read on:

“The idea of the market as cure-all arose during the great bull market that ran from August 1982 through March 2000. With stocks (as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index) returning an average of 20 percent a year in capital gains and dividends, middle-class people could fund their own retirements with minimal effort and even afford private college for their kids if they started saving early. Market gains would transform state, local and corporate pension funds from underfunded to overfunded, and capital gains — and stock option — related tax revenue would balance budgets on the federal, state and local levels. No pain, all gain.

The topper came four years ago: President George W. Bush could even propose privatizing Social Security by letting beneficiaries invest in stocks and have the idea taken seriously. Now the cycle has shifted. For many older baby boomers who once felt comfortable but have seen their 401(k)s and other accounts eviscerated the past two years, the magic words are no longer “stock market” — they’re “Social Security.” See full article here:

Today’s San Jose Mercury writes that “the Social Security Disability Insurance system (SSDI) is crumbling under the pressure of a substantial disabled population, shrinking budgets and a wave of agency retirements. Social Security employees work as hard as they can to help people who deserve care, but their best efforts aren’t putting a dent in a hearing backlog of 765,000 disabled Americans — including 62,031 Californians — waiting months or years to receive their rightful benefits.

The recession is making things even worse. Commissioner Michael Astrue recently told the media the SSA is facing an unanticipated 10 percent increase in its disability claims caseload. That’s 250,000 additional cases the SSA needs to review, further bogging down the system.” See San Jose Mercury article here:

AARP has provided a great summary of Social Security disability benefits. For most U.S. workers and their families, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) provides protection against a key source of economic insecurity-the loss of earnings due to disability. Today, 9.3 million Americans-disabled workers, their spouses, and dependent children-rely on SSDI to replace lost wages. This primer provides an overview of the SSDI program, including who is covered, what benefits they receive, how the program is administered, and how it is financed.
Download the full document here:

The New York Times joins the chorus of voices rising about layoffs by state governors. The governors need to slash budgets, but some of the jobs cut impact people on or applying for disability benefits:

“The nation’s top Social Security official says benefits for tens of thousands of people with severe disabilities are being delayed by furloughs and layoffs of state employees around the country.

The official, Michael J. Astrue, the commissioner of Social Security, said Sunday that “governors are hurting their own states, their own citizens, and increasing the backlog of claims” by furloughing workers who make disability decisions. State officials have announced furloughs, layoffs and hiring freezes to help balance budgets battered by the recession.

“The states’ response is completely illogical,” Mr. Astrue said. See his remarks and story here

Today’s Huffington Post has a great article on the differences between Medicare and Medicaid – this is often a point of confusion for people applying for Social Security disability. People granted Social Security benefits are eligible for federal Medicare after the first 24 months of checks. Medicaid is a state program, sometimes called something different (e.g MediCal in California, Oregon Health Plan in Oregon) and is a need-based program. It comes with SSI benefits and also for other qualifiying events – many folks with HIV get it, for example. Read On here:

Coming Home” is an investigative series about U.S. Army troops who have returned from Iraq. Salon national correspondent Mark Benjamin and Colorado-based journalist Michael de Yoanna have looked into inadequate medical care and preventable deaths among returned soldiers.

Salon writes today: “Late last month, the Army announced data showing the highest suicide rate among soldiers in three decades. At least 128 soldiers committed suicide in 2008. Another 15 deaths are still under investigation as potential suicides. And suicide is only one manifestation of the mental health ills coming home with U.S. troops. Four years after Salon first exposed problems with healthcare at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that ultimately became a national scandal, the situation, at least at some Army posts, has only deteriorated. For the “Coming Home” series, in which today’s two entries are the second installment, Salon put together a sample of 25 cases of suicide, prescription drug overdoses or murder involving Fort Carson soldiers since 2004. A close study of 10 of those cases exposed a pattern of avoidable deaths, meaning that a suicide or murder might well have been prevented had the Army better handled the predictable and well-known symptoms of combat stress. (Read the introduction to the “Coming Home” series here.) As Alderman’s death shows, part of the problem is an apparent tendency of Army doctors to substitute large doses of prescription medication for adequate mental healthcare.” Personal stories of preventable deaths here

“I am under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD” says an Army psyciatrist.
A secret recording reveals the Army may be pushing its medical staff not to
diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder. The Army and Senate have ignored the
implications.
See full artilcle here:

In Today’s New York Times, a litany of problems created by the economy. Budget cuts now for health care will create deeper costs later:
“Battered by the recession and the deepest and most widespread budget deficits in several decades, a large majority of states are slicing into their social safety nets — often crippling preventive efforts that officials say would save money over time.

“President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package is helping to alleviate some of the pain, providing large amounts of money to pay for education and unemployment insurance, bolster food stamp programs and expand tax credits for low earners. But the money will offset only 40 percent of the losses in state revenues, and programs for vulnerable groups have been cut in at least 34 states, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a private research group in Washington.: See Times story here: