SSI and SSD

Average SSD Payment

The average SSD payment in 2008 was $1,063 a month. Once you have received disability payments for two years, you automatically qualify for Medicare coverage.

Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri, the District of Columbia and Alabama face the 10 worst Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) hearing-level processing backlogs.

Hearings are held when an SSDI decision is appealed, many people have already waited 12 or more months following their application, denial and, for many, reconsideration. By the time they reach the hearing, it's not unusual for applicants to have waited two to four years for an SSDI decision.

The 10 states with the lowest wait times are Delaware, Maine, Texas, Louisiana, West Virginia, Utah, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Connecticut and Hawaii.

The SSA reports the national average processing time for a hearing decision is now 442 days, down from 514 days in September 2008. The total hearings backlog has decreased by more than 71,000 cases since December 2008.

Last year, more than 2.8 million people filed SSDI applications, and the SSA projects 3.3 million will file disability claims in 2010. The SSA recently reported that the level of initial claims pending now exceeds 1 million people - nearly a 40 percent increase over the level from FY 2008.

High Rate Claim Denial in Texas

In Texas at the initial claim level (the application), SSD and SSI claimants have been denied at the rate of 61.5%.

For those who were denied and chose to file appeals, Texas claimants were again denied at an even higher rate: 84.2%.

More initial claims are denied than are approved and an astoundingly high percentage of first appeals are likewise denied.

Steps to protect your Social Security Disability, Veteran's or Pension Benefits:

Do NOT commingle Social Security and exempt benefits with nonexempt funds.

Do NOT obtain a loan or credit card from the bank where your Social Security or pension is deposited. If sued, go to court and demand proof of the debt.

If your bank account is frozen, file an exemption claim within 10 days.

IRS and SSD

The IRS can take money each month from a Social Security disability check.

The practice is part of the agency's Federal Payment Levy Program, which allows up to 15 percent of any federal payments a delinquent taxpayer receives to go directly to the IRS until their overdue taxes are paid in full.

The IRS employs an automated levy system that withholds Social Security payments to taxpayers with incomes below the poverty line. If this is happening to you ... call.

Ask for a person -- not a computer -- to provide a review. You may be classified by the agency as unable to pay.

IRS Taxpayer Advocate: 1-877-777-4778

If your reasonable expenses are more than your income you may be eligible to have an IRS levy from your bank account refunded. The IRS will have a telephone interview with you to determine your ability to pay. This includes and discussion of your assets and resources. They will then ask for your monthly expenses. Typically you will have to fax the IRS your last three months of bank statements.

While the IRS has ten days to decide on a refund they actually can and usually do act more quickly. You bank may require 72 hours to restore your funds. In reality the IRS may act more quickly than your bank.

There is a possibility that you will have a partial restoration of funds rather than a full restoration.

A restoration of funds for hardship and a classification of 'unable to pay' does not mean your debt is forgiven. You will continue to owe your debt. However, your funds for living expenses may be partially or fully restored.

Social Security Disability (SSD) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are governed by the same rules for eligibility.

The claims are evaluated in the same fashion and by the same rules.

The difference is that SSI Supplemental Security Income has a limit on an individual's assets for eligibility. The limit in terms of assets is $2,000.00. If a claimant's assets are in excess of this amount, the claim will be automatically denied and a medical evaluation will not be conducted.

Since 1976, Social Security has administered two disability programs: Social Security disability and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). All of the above information applies to both programs...except for the fact that SSI is a need based program that is not based upon insured status and an individual's earnings do not determine the disability benefit amount they receive each month, and from year to year.
SSI maximum monthly benefit amounts are set each year by the Social Security Administration. And the actual amount an individual is able to receive is affected by their living arrangements (household) and income. Additionally, some states offer subsidies that increase what an SSI beneficiary might receive each month while other states provide no additional subsidies.

Social Security disability is a federal disability program that has uniform rules and regulations which determine factors of entitlement, how medical decisions are processed, and how benefit amounts are determined.

Social Security uses state disability agencies (usually called DDS, or disability determination services) to make their medical determinations, and all state disability agencies use the same disability handbook titled “Disability Evaluation Under Social Security. ”

Social Security determines what an individual’s insured status and benefit amount will be, based upon an individual’s yearly earnings prior to the onset of their disability (when they became unable to work). All states determine SSD in the same fashion.

Social Security disability beneficiaries are able to move from state to state without affecting their Social Security disability benefits.

Lee Ann Torrans
Attorney at Law
6532 LBJ Freeway
Dallas, Texas 75240

http://socialsecuritystrategy.com

ltorrans@gmail.com

214-500-5410 (cell)
214-231-2886 (E-fax)

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