Massachusetts Social Security Disability Lawyers Blog

February 9, 2014

SSDI Fraud is Rare, but More Stringent Standards May Come Anyway

More than 100 defendants have been indicted on charges that they sought to defraud the Social Security Administration of disability benefits by feigning physical and mental illness.

Officials say the retired New York City firefighters and police officers were coached on how to behave and what to say during their medical exams. Those who had worked during the 2001 terrorist attacks were reportedly instructed to detail their fear of skyscrapers and airplanes and told to reiterate that they were unable to leave their homes.

Many of those individuals were successful in securing SSDI benefits. However, officials say their Facebook pages revealed a much different narrative. Claimants who attested to being terrified to leave their homes were seen in posted photographs flying helicopters, playing basketball, riding motorcycles, fishing and more. Officials say the fraud may involve as many as 1,000 people and may go back as far as 1988, which, if proven true, would be the largest fraud ever perpetuated on the SSDI program.
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February 6, 2014

Massachusetts SSDI Applicants Warned of Upcoming Changes to Program

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The Social Security Administration makes it notoriously difficult for people to secure federal disability benefits. In fact, a rigorous process is applied to almost every case, and the denial rate is over 50 percent.

Now, our Social Security Disability Insurance attorneys in Massachusetts have learned that a number of upcoming changes may make the process even tougher. This makes having strong legal representation all the more important for applicants moving forward.

As reported recently by The Wall Street Journal, those changes include updating listings for use by vocational experts, updating qualification requirements, require full disclosure of all medical records, initiatives to reduce backlogs, anti-fraud investigations and further scrutiny of Social Security Administration judges.
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February 3, 2014

25 New Conditions Added to SSDI Compassionate Allowance List

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Filing for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits in Boston is a notoriously tedious process, which is why you won’t find many people doing it out of anything but necessity.

However, there are situations in which an applicant’s health is likely to deteriorate far more rapidly than the average applicant. In these cases, unlike most others, a diagnosis alone is basis enough for receiving benefits. In turn, the Social Security Administration fast-tracks these applications as part of the Compassionate Allowance program.

In these cases, submission of the proper paperwork to the correct location in a timely manner is still essential, which is why hiring an SSDI attorney is highly recommended. The difference is if you have a condition on the Compassionate Allowance list, you can expect to receive benefits a lot sooner – in some cases within just 20 days.

And now, the SSA has announced it is adding 25 new conditions to the Compassionate Allowance list, bringing the total number to 200. (Thirty-five new conditions had last been added to the list in December 2012.)
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January 30, 2014

S. 1845 – A Proposal to Slash Disabled Benefits to Pay for Unemployment

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Senate Republicans and Democrats alike are throwing their support behind S. 1845, a measure that would pilfer money set aside for disabled workers in order extend benefits to those who can’t find work.

It’s a horrible idea.

For one thing, it’s predicated on the idea that somehow the Social Security Disability Insurance program has excess money to spare. In 2012, the total disability insurance expenditures topped $135 billion (that includes costs for staff, judges, etc.). That sounds like a lot, until you begin to consider that the trust fund for the program is projected to be exhausted in just two years. Legislators still haven’t offered a concrete plan to address this issue.
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January 27, 2014

Boston SSDI for Cystic Fibrosis Sufferers

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A recent report indicates that the number of adults newly diagnosed with cystic fibrosis is on the rise.

Cystic fibrosis is a disease with a reputation for destroying the lungs of children. It’s an incurable genetic condition that often claims the lives of sufferers before they reach adulthood. In the 1950s, few children with the disease lived to attend elementary school.

Today, many people with the condition can expect to live into their 30s, 40s and even beyond. In some cases, people the disease may not even recognize they have it until they reach middle age.
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January 23, 2014

Mays v. Colvin – Disproving Ability to Do Sedentary Work

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Many a Boston Social Security Disability Insurance claim has been denied because the claimant was unable to prove disability so severe that it rendered him unable to perform even sedentary work.

Of course, one must consider that for someone who worked in a very physical occupation, such as nursing or construction, opportunities for employment will be extremely limited for someone who has severe limitations with regard to sitting, standing, walking, squatting, pushing, pulling and lifting.

Yet this is the standard that is so often applied by the Social Security Administration and the Administrative Law Judge, who is responsible for reviewing the claim if it’s rejected and then appealed.
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January 19, 2014

Garcia v. Colvin – Obtaining SSDI Benefits For Alcohol-Related Disease

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A 40-year-old former construction worker suffered from a host of alcohol-related ailments when he first applied for federal disability benefits in 2010. He had been employed full-time, but was unable to work due to abdominal pain resulting from cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis C, an umblicial hernia and low platelet count.

According to the court records, these conditions had been diagnosed years earlier and without exception, had been either caused or exacerbated by alcoholism. However, that does not rule him out as a candidate for federal benefits.

Anyone seeking to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits in Boston should know that addiction alone doesn’t preclude a person being able to successfully obtain benefits.

But it is important that you stop using.
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January 14, 2014

Changes Underway in the SSD System

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The Social Security Disability (SSD) system is an important safety net that provides income to disabled children and to adults if the individual and family has a limited income or if the individual has earned a sufficient number of work credits and is now too disabled to work. The SSD program has a number of very strict qualifying requirements and is tightly regulated to ensure that only the truly disabled are eligible to receive benefits.

Our Boston disability lawyers know that the Social Security Administration is currently undergoing a number of different changes to the organization and operation of the SSD system. The Wall Street Journal has provided a summary of these changes, which can affect any applicants who are disabled and who are in need of disability benefits.
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January 11, 2014

Daily Discrimination Faced by the Disabled

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Disability is something that can happen to anyone, and those who are disabled face many challenges. For many, the biggest challenge is not being able to work and provide income for their families. However, the Huffington Post has recently provided a list of some of the other issues that affect the lives of those who are disabled. The article, written by an author who has been disabled for the past 20 years, highlights six instances of discrimination that disabled individuals face on a daily basis.

Our disability benefits attorneys can help those who are severely disabled to apply for benefits through the Social Security Administration so they have the income that they need to make ends meet. Even with adequate financial support, however, the disabled will continue to face many challenges in a society that does not yet fully understand and embrace acceptance of everyone without discrimination.
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January 9, 2014

Government Changes Rules for SSD Judges

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The Social Security Administration has made it very difficult for applicants to qualify for disability benefits through either the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program or through Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Although these programs both are paid for by taxpayers and are supposed to provide necessary financial support to the disabled, the denial rate for applicants is greater than 50 percent.

Boston disability lawyers know that those who are denied benefits have four stages of appeals that they can pursue so their claims can be reconsidered. One of these stages of appeal is to have a case heard by an administrative law judge (ALJ). The ALJ presides over a benefits hearing in which the disabled applicant can make an argument for why he is entitled to benefits and in which an SSA representative can make an argument for why the benefits claim should not be approved. Appeals at this level are sometimes successful, but there is no guarantee of this success and many people are still denied.

Despite the high denial rate, however, the Social Security Administration is now making plans to crack down on administrative law judges as some argue that their alleged “generosity” towards granting benefits has resulted in the disability benefits program expanding too much and heading towards insolvency. The SSI trust fund could be bankrupt as soon as 2016, resulting in a need to make major changes including potentially cutting the benefits of the disabled so that the benefits can be paid for with new income coming in. Some believe that making changes to the way the SSA oversees administrative law judges could help to solve this problem.
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