Step 1 of the Social Security Administration’s 5-Step Sequential Evaluation Process asks whether you (the claimant) are engaging in “substantial gainful activity,” or SGA. If the answer is yes, then you will be ineligible for benefits regardless of the nature or severity of your medical impairments. SGA is generally defined as work activity that is… read more

Every Veterans Day, the nation honors the brave men and women who risk their lives to protect our country and the freedoms we cherish. The Social Security Administration honors veterans and active duty members of the military every day by giving them the support they deserve. A vital part of that is administering the Social… read more

Social Security has an obligation to provide benefits quickly to applicants whose medical conditions are so serious that their conditions obviously meet disability standards. 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. Compassionate Allowances allow Social… read more

It is no secret that the Social Security Administration (SSA) has a significant backlog of cases right now, and it seems that it is taking the Agency an absurd amount of time to schedule a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). It is estimated that people nationwide are waiting an average of 525 days… read more

On September 26, 2016, the Social Security Administration published a final rule, “Revised Medical Criteria for Evaluating Mental Disorders.” This regulation reflects the most comprehensive revision in over 30 years to the criteria used to evaluate disability claims involving mental disorders. With the publication of this final rule, standards for evaluating claims involving mental disorders… read more

On Tuesday, the Social Security Administration will announce the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for retirement, disability, and survivor benefits, affecting nearly 66 million Americans who receive Social Security or Supplemental Security Income payments. Beneficiaries received no cost-of-living increase in 2016 due to soft inflation in 2015, including a plunge in the cost of gasoline and… read more

The Social Security Administration has added an extra layer of security for individuals when they interact online using the “my Social Security” suite of services. The my Social Security feature is a section of the Administration’s website that allows you to create an account and view your contributions to your retirement and disability account, as… read more

One of the most important thing about Social Security disability benefits is payments to qualified family members. It is also one of the important distinctions between SSI and Social Security disability: only workers who have paid taxes into the system are eligible for full family coverage. A family member may be eligible for a monthly… read more

Your eligibility for Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits may be affected by your citizenship status or where you live. Most SSD recipients are American citizens, either living in the United States or abroad. However, non-citizens who are permanent residents and have paid taxes into the Social Security system for the required amount of years are… read more

The Social Security Administration does not assume that you will be permanently disabled when you are granted Social Security Disability (SSDI/RSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits. Many of the conditions that prevent Social Security recipients from working can be expected to improve with time. Accordingly, the SSA periodically reviews the cases of Social… read more