Happy New Year 2012! It’s a good time to look into my crystal ball and try to predict what the New Year will bring for Social Security disability claimants.
If the past is any guide, watch for more changes that are disadvantageous for claimants.
Here’s a summary of what 2011 meant for social security disability claimants and beneficiaries:
- Congress allowed approximately 4,600 impoverished elderly and disabled refugees to lose their Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits;
- The Social Security Administration, using a backdoor approach, removed the option for claimants to file a new application while waiting for a current application to wind its way through the process. Instead, a claimant who has been denied benefits at a hearing must choose between pursuing an appeal — or filing a new application.
- The Social Security Administration decided that claimants and their attorneys no longer will be permitted to know in advance their assigned judge. Since each judge’s courtroom is different, this will disadvantage claimants because it will be impossible to prepare for what an individual judge may expect or want from legal counsel or claimants.
On the bright side, people who receive Social Security benefits will see a little more money in their monthly electronic payments starting in January. The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that benefits payments will increase by 3.6 percent next year based on a cost of living adjustment.