Recent Blog Posts
Procopio, et. al. v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs – Navy Veterans Lose Expedited Review for Agent Orange Exposure During Vietnam War
NAVY VETERANS SEEK EXPEDITED REVIEW OF AGENT ORANGE CLAIMS The Court of Appeals Federal Circuit, held in Procopio, et al. v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Court of Appeals Federal Circuit 12/08/2019) that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has the authority to stay disability compensation claims until January 1, 2020. This is a disappointing case for Navy… Read More »
Check Your Earnings To Protect Your Future
SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFITS AND RETIREMENT The monthly amount of your Social Security Disability benefits and your future retirement benefits is based upon your earnings. You are responsible to check your earnings statement every year. You must do this to make sure your earnings are properly reported to the SSA and IRS. When you… Read More »
SSA ADDS FOUR NEW COMPASSIONATE ALLOWANCES
SSA Adds Four New Compassionate Allowances Conditions On August 19, 2019, the SSA added four new conditions to the list of compassionate allowances. The SSA has a list of conditions they consider disabling. This list is the Listed Impairments. Additionally, the SSA has a list of disabling impairments they consider to be automatically disabling…. Read More »
NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS DISABILITY MAY NOT BE A BARRIER TO WORK
IS DISABILITY A BARRIER TO WORK? On September 5, 2019, the New York Times published Ben Casselman’s article about disability and work. Casselman wrote, employers like Dell, started a program to hire people with autism. Kate Cosway, who has a master’s degree, was chosen by Dell for a 12-week internship, which is now becoming… Read More »
RETIREMENT BENEFITS & SSD
WHAT ARE RETIREMENT BENEFITS? Retirement benefits are monthly payments from Social Security. These benefits replace a percentage of your pre-retirement income based on your lifetime earnings. The portion of your pre-retirement wages that Social Security replaces is based on your highest 35 years of earnings. This amount varies depending on how much you earn. The… Read More »
BANKRUPTCY COURT TO HEAR SSA OVERPAYMENT CASE
BANKRUPTCY COURT HAS JURISDICTION TO HEAR OVERPAYMENT CASE Overpayment cases are not normally heard by any judges outside of the Social Security Administration. However, the 5th Circuit, in Benjamin v. United States of America, (5th Circuit 07/26/2019), has ruled that the Bankruptcy Court has jurisdiction to hear a representative payee’s overpayment case. Benjamin, the plaintiff was… Read More »
Smith v. Berryhill – U.S. Supreme Court Reverses SSA’s Policy
SMITH V. BERRYHILL On May 28, 2019, the U.S Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Smith v. Berryhill, 139 S. Ct. 1765 (2019), reversing the Sixth Circuit’s judgment. The Sixth Circuit held that an Appeals Council dismissal was not subject to federal judicial review. But, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an Appeals Council’s… Read More »
How Much Money Is My Monthly Disability Benefit?
FILING FOR SSD & SSI DISABILITY BENEFITS A monthly disability benefits is available if you cannot work for 12 months or longer. Disability benefits replace your income and Cannon Disability Law can help. Under Social Security rules, if you are unable to work a full-time job because of a physical or mental impairment, then… Read More »
SSA WANTS TO LIMIT YOUR RIGHT TO AN IN PERSON HEARING
You may receive an SSA notice that limits your right to an in person hearing. The SSA sends out this notice for you to sign so they can schedule your hearing as a video hearing. This means that your judge may not live in your area. As such, the judge may not be familiar… Read More »
DISABILITY BENEFITS: SSI OR SSD?
SHOULD YOU APPLY FOR SSD OR SSI DISABILITY BENEFITS? Social Security Disability benefits are monthly payments that support individuals who cannot work a full-time job and have a disability. There are two different SSA programs that pay disability benefits. Those programs are Social Security Disability (SSD) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Although both programs… Read More »
SSA Plans For CDI Units To Expand To Every State
The Social Security Administration plans to expand CDI units to every state. Below please find excerpts of a letter from Nancy Berryhill, Acting Commissioner, dated February 13, 2018, which explains their reasoning that they believe they have saved the agency billions of dollars. ___________________________ Expansion of Cooperative Disability Investigations (CDI) Units Progress Report (February 2018)… Read More »
MENTAL ILLNESS AWARENESS WEEK & NAMI
In 1990, Congress officially established the first week of October as Mental Illness Awareness Week. They did this to encourage people to work together and educate the public about mental illness. NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), raises awareness about mental illness. They do this through public education and providing support to those with… Read More »
WHAT IS YOUR MONTHLY DISABILITY PAYMENT?
HOW MUCH IS YOUR MONTHLY SSD PAYMENT? The Social Security Disability payment benefit amount is different for every person who applies. Because, SSD benefits are based upon the amount you have worked during your lifetime. Everyone has a different work history. Each person earns a different amount of money during their lifetime. Therefore, the monthly… Read More »
NOSSCR STATES BUDGET WILL NOT SOLVE BACKLOG
NOSSCR BUDGET COMMENTS NOSSCR released this article today, indicating that even with the level of funding Obama has requested in his budget, the wait time for a hearing is going to increase for those who have applied for disability benefits. Read NOSSCR’s article below. OBAMA’S BUDGET PROPOSAL President Obama released his Fiscal Year 2017… Read More »
SSA Fraud Investigations Waste Taxpayer’s Money
THE SSA’S FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS The SSA investigates people who apply for SSD benefits. How do they chose who to investigate? Most fraud allegations come from SSA employees. In fiscal year 2014, the SSA received more than 121,000 fraud allegations and more than 58,000 (almost half) of those came from SSA employees. In other words,… Read More »
IS THE DISABILITY TRUST FUND IN JEOPARDY?
WILL THE DISABILITY TRUST FUND RUN OUT OF MONEY? Most people don’t understand the Social Security and Disability trust funds and how they work. Headlines are constantly claiming the Disability Trust Fund is going to run out of money. Therefore, people with disabilities who cannot work will not receive their payments. Let’s examine the… Read More »
