Social Security Disability -- BIG ONE -- Please Read

[cutlassmama]

We've got to stop this...some way!!!

Proposed SSA Rules Would Hurt Persons with Disabilities
by Severely Limiting Appeal Rights
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has published a proposed regulation that would significantly
restrict appeal rights for persons applying for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
benefits. The new rules would narrow the scope of appeals and institute many complex procedural
requirements and time limits. As a result, severely disabled persons could lose their appeals not on the
merits of their claims, but because of technicalities.
• The proposed rules:
• Conflict with statutory requirements and long-established jurisprudence regarding
claimants’ due process rights.
• Would change the appeals process from an informal, non-adversarial process designed to
be accessible to the lay person, to a much more formal, legalistic proceeding that could result
in denials due to the claimant’s inability to navigate the procedural obstacles. This would
particularly disadvantage claimants who are not represented by experienced legal counsel, who
are less educated, or who have cognitive impairments or mental illness.
• Would severely restrict claimants’ ability to submit relevant evidence at their hearings or at
later steps of the appeals process, limiting their ability to challenge erroneous SSA denials.
• Under the proposed rules, some claimants would be forced to file new applications to ensure
that relevant evidence was considered, rather than continuing the appeals process. This could
severely penalize claimants, causing significant delays, loss of retroactive benefits, and in some
cases barring eligibility completely.
• Due to the restrictions on appeal rights, fewer applicants would be awarded benefits, resulting in
a more than $2.0 billion reduction in benefits paid over a ten year period, according to the Social
Security Chief Actuary. Applicants who are denied Social Security and SSI cash benefits would
also lose eligibility for health care coverage under Medicare and Medicaid.
• SSA states that the proposed rules will help address its unprecedented level of backlogged disability
claims by streamlining the appeals process. However, the disability backlogs are due to chronic
underfunding of the agency, not faulty appeals procedures. Over the past ten years, SSA has
received $4.6 billion less in administrative funding than requested by the SSA Commissioner and
$1.3 billion less than requested by the President, resulting in severe staffing shortfalls even as
workloads have increased.
For More Information:
• To read or submit comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), go to
www.regulations.gov. Search for the NPRM by Docket ID: SSA-2007-0044-0001. The public
comment period closes on December 28, 2007.
• For additional resources, go to waysandmeans.house.gov and look for this issue under “Hot Topics.”
Prepared by the Staff of the Committee on Ways and Means, Charles B. Rangel, Chairman, December 20, 2007

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/ResourceKits.asp?section=2593

[Roon]

1. Oh, this is not good

So unfair to the people who totally qualify and need it.

[cutlassmama]

3. I agree. It's HORRIBLE!

Here's something else I found on the site.

Printer Friendly Version
House Committee on Ways and Means

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Proposed SSA Change Would Cut Benefits for Disabled Individuals
Restricting appeals process would deny many eligible applicants their Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SSI benefits

Rangel Contact: Matthew Beck or J. Jioni Palmer [phone]

Dingell Contact: Jodi Seth [phone]

Conyers Contact: Melanie Roussell [phone] or Jonathan Godfrey [phone]

Waxman Contact: Karen Lightfoot [phone]

WASHINGTON, DC – The Social Security Administration is proposing to sharply restrict appeal rights for severely disabled individuals applying for Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicare and Medicaid benefits.

If the proposed regulation is adopted, severely disabled persons will be denied access to over $2.0 billion in benefits over the next ten years – not because they do not meet the eligibility criteria in the law, but because they could not successfully navigate the complex new procedural requirements established by the proposed rule.


Nearly two decades ago, the Social Security Administration attempted to put forth a similar rule restricting appeal rights and instituting new procedural complexities. It was quickly abandoned in the face of public outcry.


Today, a letter objecting to the regulation was filed by eleven House Committee and Subcommittee chairs, including the chairs of the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Please click here to read the letter. Please click here to read the proposed regulation.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel:
"It would be grossly unfair to deny critical benefits to severely disabled people simply because they lack the sophistication and legal expertise to navigate the complex new appeals rules and limitations the Social Security Administration is proposing," said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY). "No one should lose out on an appeal because of procedural technicalities. The Committee on Ways and Means intends to further investigate the impact of this regulation on people with disabilities early in the next session of Congress."

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell:
“We should be making it easier, not more difficult, for disabled individuals to access the benefits they need,” said Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Dingell (D-MI). “The proposed rule would create cumbersome and unnecessary obstacles for those seeking an appeal. The most vulnerable among us deserve better, and my Committee will be working to ensure that this regulation does not become a roadblock for disabled individuals seeking health care and support services.”


Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers:
"We must ensure that the hearing and appeals process for disabled persons seeking Medicare and Medicaid benefits is fair and equitable," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI). "By proposing a rule that would essentially reduce access to benefits, the Social Security Administration is ignoring the real reason for the administrative backlog they now face, which is the severe and chronic underfunding of the agency."


Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman:
“We have a critical problem of a backlog in the hearings and appeals process at the Social Security Administration,” said Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-CA). “That backlog effectively denies benefits and rights to disabled persons. But Social Security is moving in the wrong direction with these proposals. Cutting claimants’ rights, and adding procedural barriers, will only compound the damage. Mere administrative efficiency can’t trump the obligation of SSA to fully and fairly consider the claims.”

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news.asp?formmode=release&id=608

[gaspee]

2. That sucks

I know there are abuses of the system - we all know that. but, for people who *need* disability to survive, it's already hard enough to get.

My brother has an IQ of 62. If it weren't for my parents helping him with the system, he would never have been able to get disability. He will never be able to support himself with his job - he's a carriage boy at the grocery store. He doesn't even get a check from them because he makes @600 bucks a month which means he makes too much, but he does get medicare or we would have 3 of 4 people in my house without insurance.

Medicare saved his life last year when he ended up on life support for 6 months with pancreatitis. He probably would have died if he didn't have insurance. He would be 600,000.00 in debt if he didn't have insurance. How is a developementally disabled man with an IQ of 62 ever going to pay 600 grand in medical debt.

Most claims are denied, then it takes years to work through the appeals process. it's already pretty hard to get disability.

This is obscene!

[eleny]

4. At a time when applicants are so vulnerable - the application process

K&R

[defendandprotect]

5. Like Reagan, Bush has been very busy attacking the helpless . . .

Reagan's cuts on disability resulted in thousands of suicides which the press never mentioned!!!

[cutlassmama]

8. I'm bed bound. I got a copy of the SSI file that turned me down the

first time. They wrote all over it that I had a history of suicide. Did they do anything when I was turned down? NO! I got a stupid form letter. Thank God I won on appeal. I have 15 different things wrong with me, both mental and physical. I take 23 pills a day, yet they turned me down the first time.
People like me would certainly "fall through the cracks" and die.

My son, who is developmentally disabled and his IQ is below 70, which is retarded level. We moved because our apartment was being bulldozed. SSA decided our living situation was different, even thought it wasn't. Our rent/food has gone UP, not down. I'm trying to appeal because he has lost his SSI/Medicaid and must pay his Medicare premiums. His SSDI has been reduced to $551.00 a month. How is anyone supposed to live on $55l.00 a month. He can't work. So here we sit, in the cold, running out of food and waiting for this "appeal" thing.

I appealed November 1st. Have not heard a word. I don't even know now if they taking appeals because of the above. :mad:

[defendandprotect]

19. This is an inhumane situation, but that seems to be what these people are all about ---

the press has at least done a bit of reporting on this --
not that it's helping anyone---

Let's see if the candidates speak out about any of this ---
anyone asking even one question about it?

[Triana]

6. Jeeeeze! Getting SSI is damn difficult already and they ALWAYS reject the first time...

...no matter what the situation. I had neighbors a few years ago who had to get JOHN EDWARDS's office to help them get their disability once it was rejected the first time - and they NEEDED it. These were not people just trying to glomb off the gov't - they NEEDED that money and they were disabled!

The PSYCHOPATHY of these people (pushing these changes) knows NO bounds! Gawd!

:mad:

[Faygo Kid]

7. Bush failed to destroy Social Security head on - so now he will end it via the back door

He got his tax cuts for the rich, and redistribution of wealth.

He got his neocon war with Saddam.

He has not yet gotten the destruction of the social safety net/New Deal, but he is not finished by a long shot. If he couldn't privatize Social Security, he will destroy it through rule changes and pulling the plug on funding.

This article describes just one aspect of the efforts, making Social Security unavailable to those most in need.

Thanks for posting this VERY important news.

[cutlassmama]

9. I had "heard" he was cutting it in some way to help pay for

his warmongering, but I just didn't know when it would start affecting us and how hard it was going to hit. It hit home for me.

[southern_belle]

10. My son's SSI was stopped over a year ago.

He has a physical medical condition that is stated to be covered under Medicaid and has had medicaid/SSI since the age of 2/3. He is now 25 years old. He appealed the decision, which was a joke. They asked for medical records they've been having for over 20+ years, and of course, the doctor's original records have been "destroyed".

His appeal was denied (and don't let the door hit him in the ass...).

I don't know what we are going to do? I have the same condition and am wondering when they will cut my Medicaid???

:cry: :mad:

[southern_belle]

12. please keep kicked.

This is urgent and needs to create an uproar. :grouphug:

[cutlassmama]

13. This is why (now) every year I get copies of medical records for both

he and I from every doctor we go to. I have six. He has three. About April of each year I request medical records from each of them. When I tell them it's for disability I get them free. That way I have my copy if/when they die, retire, move out of town, etc.

Usually there will be some place that holds the records for a period of time before they are destroyed.

Also, if your child was in special ed. as mine was get copies of school records. That may help.

[southern_belle]

16. Thank you. I do have some school records that I'm going through

right now. :)

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

11. Thanks for this post. As a family that has already gone through

this long and hard process, (took two years, four doctors, and legal court proceeding.) twelve years ago, it's hard to believe it could be made more severe. This system is set up to make people give up!

[cutlassmama]

14. Exactly, but now they are going to make it even HARDER for

disabled people. I'm not a faker. I worked 26 years and paid into the system. I just happened to get sicker and sicker until I couldn't work anymore. I had 3 doctors say I couldn't. It still took 2 years and a second appeal to win.

If they don't let people appeal so many people will either kill themselves or end up homeless, well some already have/are...it's not right...they got a $4,000 a year raise and the sickest population of America gets screwed once again.

[12string]

15. Social Security Disability Benefits

 I became disabled after working and paying into the system
for 29 years.I applied for benefits and was denied.I appealed
and was denied again.I employed an attorney and was given a
hearing.The hearing was scheduled fourteen months after
applying for it.I finally was awarded my claim,retroactive to
when I first applied.Total time from start to first check...54
months.Try and live for 54 months with no income.It's a good
thing for me I'm so damned charming and my girlfriend so
generous,or I would have died a homeless person while
waiting.This system is heartless enough already.

[cutlassmama]

17. It was really good you had someone to support you at that time.

I was really terrified. Thankfully my mom LOANED me the money. I had to pay her back when I got my backpay, which was all of it.

[cutlassmama]

18. This is the one thing that really has me up in arms since it is happening to

me right now and I'm sure many others...

Would severely restrict claimants’ ability to submit relevant evidence at their hearings or at
later steps of the appeals process, limiting their ability to challenge erroneous SSA denials.

They have erroneously taken away most of my son's benefits now and are not in any hurry to correct it. I am seriously scared for him since I don't much longer to live.

[defendandprotect]

20. Just, in general, for people who don't know this ---

At Social Security inception and throughout much of the 50's and even into some of the 60's, I believe, the Social Security Administration used to send representatives out to explain the system to workers -- they would often come to companies to talk about it -- benefits; the fact that it's an INSURANCE program.

That, of course, was stopped long ago so that many people have no idea what Social Security covers and all it does ---

Additionally, they don't know the huge surplusses it has been forced to run --- not for the benefit of the retired or future retirees --- but so that administrations have this money to use for their own purposes --- to often for war!!!

Of course, these extra funds are raised at great burden to current payees into the system;
an unnecessary burden. The Social Security fund has raised a surplus of at least $80 BILLION every year --- and actually I think it is more in the last years.

Further, when Social Security first began and even up until the Carter years, Social Security FICA payments were based on a ratio of 2/3rds paid by the employer and 1/3rd paid by the employee. That was changed in the 1980's to a 50/50 ratio.

I'm sure there are also other positive things about Social Security I'm not aware of ---
of course the whole package was also to include health care --- but Truman never got it thru.
EVEN WITH A DEMOCATIC CONGRESS!!!

[cutlassmama]

21. Just what I thought...he's taking money from SSA to pay for his

war while the sick, disabled, and old people have to live way below the poverty line :mad:

[bbwlawfirm]

22. How Did This Finally Turn Out

Anyone know How This Finally Turned Out?