Social Security Disability Benefits

The date is set, the invitations have been sent out, and you’ve picked out the cake together. However, if you are about to walk down the aisle to say “I do” to your loved one, you should look into if you also have to report your marriage to the Social Security Administration.

If you are currently receiving Social Security Disability benefits, you may need to report that you are married. The following are how marriage may affect your benefits:

• If you are receiving disability benefits on your own record, you have nothing to worry about. Payments will continue as scheduled and you also do not need to report your marriage. If you are changing your name, make sure that you do report that so your new moniker will appear on checks.

• If you are a disabled widow or widower, you will need to report a name change. Your payments will continue. Also, if your current spouse dies, you could receive higher benefits based on his or her work record.

• If you were disabled before age 22 and are receiving benefits on a Social Security record of a parent or grandparent, report your marriage. Unless if you marry someone who is receiving certain types of Social Security benefits, your payments will end. The payments cannot be started again unless if you divorce your spouse.

• If you are a child of someone who is receiving disability benefits, report your marriage immediately. Benefits end when the child marries.

Remember that Social Security Disability is based on one individual and their ability to work. If both husband and wife receive Social Security Disability, neither one can affect each other’s benefits they receive.

Before the big wedding day, make sure to schedule an appointment at your local Social Security office and bring along your significant other. It would not hurt to discuss any current benefits one (or both) of you receives and how a marriage might affect it. This might even be something important to discuss before you decide on getting engaged.

For those who work and receive Social Security Income because of a disability, you may find yourself feeling stressed at tax time if your provisional income requires that you pay income taxes on a portion of your benefits. However, for those who meet certain income guidelines, you may qualify for an Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC. The income guidelines vary depending on if you are married or single, how much money you made and what resources you may have. Single tax filers can receive $457 if they earned less than $13,440 in 2009. The income level for married filers is $18,440. To receive the EITC, you must be between the ages of 25 and 65 and have an investment income of less than $3,100. The maximum credit a person can receive is $5,657 if you have three or more children that live in your home. You have to file a tax return to receive the EITC. You can take a survey to determine if you qualify at: http://apps.irs.gov/app/eitc2009

Many people are afraid to apply because they think it will affect their Social Security Income or other benefits they receive. The EITC does not affect a person’s eligibility for Medicaid, food stamps or veteran’s benefits since the refund does not count as income. If you receive Social Security income for a disability, the refund is excluded from the resource test for nine months after you receive the benefit. Resources are additional income you may receive that could affect the amount of your benefit.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking that their Social Security Income is not taxable. This is true only if Social Security is your only source of income. Many people also receive a retirement benefit from their former employer or other type of retirement fund, called provisional income. If you receive this, you will likely need to pay taxes. The tax guidelines are:

• If you are filing individually, and you earn between $25,000 and $34,000 then 50 percent of your Social Security is taxable. Those who made more than $34,000 must pay taxes on 85 percent of their benefits.

• Married filers must pay taxes on 50 percent of their income if they earned between $32,000 and $44,000 a year. If the combined income is more than $44,000, then 85 percent of the benefit is taxable.

No one pays taxes on more than 85 percent of your Social Security income. To avoid having to make a large payment on April 15 of every year, you can choose to have federal income taxes deducted from your Social Security. The IRS also allows you to make quarterly payments.

Unless you live in one of the nine states that does not tax income, you may have to pay state income taxes on your Social Security benefits. However of the 41 states that do have income taxes, 27 of them and the District of Columbia have exclusions for Social Security income. Check with the laws of your state before filing your income returns.
 

Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating disease that affects approximately 5.3 million people, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Until 2010, those with early-onset/younger onset Alzheimer’s disease faced many hurdles when trying to collect Social Security Income or Supplemental Security Income. This was, in spite of the fact, that the disease had robbed them of their ability to work and care for themselves. This was frustrating to individuals suffering with the disease and their family members. Alzheimer’s causes memory loss and there is no cure. Because they can’t remember routine details, most that have the disease are unable to work. If denied Social Security income, many are forced to go on welfare or another form of public assistance.

However, years of lobbying by the Alzheimer’s Association and a series of hearings by the Social Security Administration has resulted in a change in the policy. As of March 1, 2010, the Social Security Administration added early-onset/younger onset Alzheimer’s as a disease eligible for the Compassionate Allowance Program. The program allows claimants to expedite the application process and considers them eligible by “virtue of the disease.” Those who qualify under the initiative are also less likely to be denied (more than a million people are denied Social Security disability benefits each year).

Since most people with Alzheimer’s have a hard time filling out complicated forms, a family member or friend often completes the application process. To apply for a Compassionate Allowances benefit, you must apply at your local Social Security Administration office. You will be asked to provide medical information about the diagnosis.

Getting approved for Social Security income can be a lengthy process. To help those who are critically ill receive their benefits quickly, the Social Security Administration has made some changes to the Compassionate Allowances Program. The updated program allows those suffering from a certain type of condition to apply and get their benefits without having to go through a lengthy application process in which they may be denied. After holding a series of public hearings and meetings by the Social Security Administration, 38 new diseases were recently added to the Compassionate Allowances Program as of March 1, 2010. These diseases are:

• Alstrom Syndrome
• Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia
• Ataxia Spinocerebellar
• Ataxia Telangiectasia
• Batten Disease
• Bilateral Retinoblastoma
• Cri du Chat Syndrome
• Degos Disease
• Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
• Edwards Syndrome
• Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva
• Glutaric Acidemia Type II
• Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), Familial Type
• Hurler Syndrome, Type IH
• Hunter Syndrome, Type II
• Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
• Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa, Lethal Type
• Late Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses
• Leigh’s Disease
• Maple Syrup Urine Disease
• Merosin Deficient Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
• Mixed Dementia
• Mucosal Malignant Melanoma
• Neonatal Adrenoleukodystrophy
• Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses, Infantile Type
• Niemann-Pick Type C
• Patau Syndrome
• Primary Progressive Aphasia
• Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy
• Sanfilippo Syndrome
• Subacute Sclerosis Panencephalitis
• Tay Sachs Disease
• Thanatophoric Dysplasia, Type 1
• Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
• Walker Warburg Syndrome
• Wolman Disease
• Zellweger Syndrome

If you are disabled and cannot work, can you afford to wait nearly two years before receiving your Social Security income? This is what is happening to those who are applying for benefits with the Social Security Administration in Kansas City and were initially denied. The Kansas Star is reporting that the average wait time for a decision from an Administrative Law Judge is 604 days. That does not include the time it took to be denied the first time and denied when the claim was reconsidered. Many people wait 825 days or longer.

Receiving Social Security income is a tough battle even without the wait. In 2009, 2.5 million people applied for Social Security benefits and two-thirds were turned down. When the agency’s fiscal year ended in September 2009, 722,822 people were still waiting to hear if they would receive Social Security benefits. Of those that did appeal in Kansas City, four out of 10 were denied by an Administrative Law Judge. The next recourse for those who are denied is the Appeals Council, which can choose not to review the case. If this happens, the applicant can file in U.S. District Court. During this time, the applicant is likely struggling to pay their bills if they cannot work.

The wait time for a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge is blamed on budget cuts which resulted in a reduction in staff. Last year, President Barack Obama signed a bill that will add 950 administrative law judges and an addition 950 support workers at Social Security offices across the nation to help expedite the hearing process.

If you need to apply for Social Security Income, you may want to look into working with an advocate who can assist you with filing your claim and potential appeals.

Before you apply for Social Security income and after you are receiving benefits you need to continue receiving medical treatment. But many people feel they don’t have the money to visit doctors. This can keep you from getting benefits now and strip you of your benefits later.

If you don’t have a report from your doctor detailing your condition, expect to be denied Social Security disability income on your first try. If you are lucky enough to get a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, don’t expect him or her to listen to your excuses for not seeing a doctor. Even if you don’t have money, you likely have a community health department or a clinic that provides health care for a low cost. Some states have programs to help low-income residents with health insurance.

After you are approved for benefits, you will need to continue seeing a doctor about your condition. The Social Security Administration will review your situation from time to time. You will need to prove that you are unable to work and still need benefits. If you are receiving Social Security income, you are eligible for Medicare or Medicaid which will help offset your medical expenses. Make sure you keep all of your appointments with your doctor so that you won’t run the risk of being denied you benefits during a review because you can’t prove you are still disabled. Then you will have no income to support yourself and your health will deteriorate.

In an ongoing effort to enhance the disability application process, the Social Security Administration recently added 38 new medical conditions to its list of medical conditions for the Compassionate Allowances Program. Social Security will begin electronically identifying these 38 new conditions March 1, 2010. “Compassionate allowances are a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions that invariably qualify under the Listing of Impairments based on minimal objective medical information”, according to the Social Security program website.

The Compassionate Allowances program was created by the administration to help those suffering with these diseases get the benefits they need. The program speeds up the application process for patients filing a disability claim. The initial list of diseases were developed after a series of public hearings, a counsel of medical experts and comments and suggestions from various agencies. The newly added list of 38 diseases was developed with efforts from the National Institutes of Health, the Alzheimer’s Association, the National Organization for Rare Disorders, and other groups.

This is a major victory for the people who have been denied assistance in the past. It allows the agency to electronically target and make quicker decisions for disabled individuals. According to a press release released by the Social Security Administration:

“The initiative not only assists those whose applications are quickly processed, but also assists those whose applications need more time and attention from SSA adjudicators,” said Marty Ford, Co-Chair, Social Security Task Force, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities. “We are pleased to see today’s expansion and look forward to working with Commissioner Astrue on further expansion of this decision-making tool and other ways to expedite determinations and decisions for disability claims.”

After you begin receiving Social Security income, don’t think you are finished appearing before administrators. Everyone has their benefits reviewed. And if you can’t prove that you are still unable to work or if your condition has improved, you may be denied your benefits.

The time of your review will depend on the severity of your condition. If you are temporarily disabled and are expected to improve, expect to be informed of a review for six to 18 months. Expect a review in three years if it is believed that you could improve. However, if you suffer from a disease with no real prospects of recovery, you will face a review five to seven years.

The review process begins when you receive a letter from the Social Security Office. After you receive the letter, you will have to provide records of your medical treatment. If you have worked at all, you will be required to provide those records. Your file is reviewed by a disability examiner and a doctor. Don’t be surprised if you are required to see a doctor and maybe take some test. If the Social Security Administration requires an examination, they will it and for your transportation.

If you are denied benefits, you can appeal. The appeals process is the same as if you appealed when you initially filed for benefits. You will first go through the Reconsideration process where your application is reviews by administrators. If you are denied there, you can request a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. If the judge and Appeals council deny your claim, you can file an appeal in U.S. District Court. If you don’t appeal, your benefits end in three months.

An estimated several million disabled people in the US receive Social Security or Supplemental Security Income. Many disabled people desire to return to work. The Social Security Administration has established work incentives to assist these individuals under the Ticket to Work Program.

In 1999, the Social Security Administration created a program called Ticket to Work that offers disabiliy beneficiaries ages 18 through 64 opportunities to obtain employment. The Ticket to Work Program provides gives tickets to eligible beneficiaries that can be used to obtain vocational rehabilitation, training, job referrals and other types of support.

The program allows you to receive help in finding work without losing your disability benefits. If you do return to work, you do not lose benefits automatically. With the Ticket to Work Program you are allowed “work incentives” which are special rules that allow you to keep your benefit and even Medicare while you try returning to work. You will have a trial work period and continue to receive full benefits as long as you report your work activity and you are still disabled.

Disability recipients can meet with a representative of a Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA). The representative should be able to assist with the following:

• provide work incentives planning and assistance;
• help beneficiaries and their families determine eligibility for Federal or State work incentives programs;
• refer beneficiaries with disabilities to appropriate Employment Networks or State VR agencies based on individual needs and impairment types;
• provide general information about potential employer-based or federally subsidized health benefits coverage available to beneficiaries once they enter the workforce; and
• inform beneficiaries with disabilities of further protection and advocacy services available to them.

You can contact your local area Social Security office to find out how to enroll in the Ticket to Work program.