Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Can a special needs trust or disabled beneficiary own a home?

Excerpt from Aler Stallings: (click for entire article)

Beneficiaries of special needs trusts often have disabilities that make owning their own home preferable because of the need for modifications, retrofitting, and renovating to accommodate a disability. Can a special needs trust, or disabled beneficiary, buy a home without jeopardizing receipt of government benefits?

The short answer is “Yes—with extreme caution.” To be successful, the trustee must examine all factors and make a decision that is best given the specific circumstances.

In general, the following factors should be considered by the trustee when determining if it is prudent for a special needs trust, or beneficiary, to buy a home:

1.     If the beneficiary owns the home, the home will not be subject to Medicaid payback provisions under a 1st party/self-settled special needs trust;
2.     If the beneficiary owns the home, the home will be subject to Medicaid liens and, or, estate recovery;

Veterans wait too long on disability claims

Excerpt from SF Gate: (click for entire article)

Those who have served know the military rules: Be on time, do it now. Once they file disability claims with the Department of Veteran Affairs, however, veterans wait, and wait longer. This is an injustice to our veterans and ill serves our communities.

The VA's Oakland regional claims office has the dubious distinction of the slowest response to disability claims - on average 320 days, compared with 241 days for the VA's 57 regional offices overall. A VA inspector general report on Oakland found a 38 percent accuracy rate. The VA's stated goal is to clear claims in 125 days with 98 percent accuracy.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, who saw the ceiling-high stacks of paper files at the Oakland office, said, "The backlog is staggering and unacceptable on any level. The VA Oakland office needs to take steps to make it more accountable to veterans." She and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, have organized a forum on Monday to help veterans.

Navigate Through Your Social Security Information With New Online Tool

Excerpt from The Consumerist: (click for entire article)

Remember the year you couldn't even find a babysitting job and cashed out all your savings bonds just to afford groceries and beer? The U.S. Social Security Administration does, and now all of your past earning info and more is online, ready and waiting for you to walk down memory lane or prepare for your future.

Unless you've just turned 25, or are 60 or older, you won't be receiving your Social Security statements in paper form in the mail. The new online tool allows citizens to create an account and then have access to their past earning record, as well as estimated benefits at retirement.

Report: Denial of Social Security Benefits Perpetuates Homelessness

Excerpt from Market Watch: (click for entire article)

Social Security benefits, including Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), are critical to keeping people with disabilities in stable housing through income support and health services. Unfortunately, the application process is cumbersome and freezes out many eligible homeless people. While up to 40 percent are potentially eligible due to physical or mental disability, only 14 percent actually receive benefits.

One key barrier is the severe restriction on the types of health care workers who can provide a medical diagnosis. Most health clinics for homeless people are staffed by non-doctors, such as nurse practitioners and physician's assistants. As a result, homeless people's disability claims lack accepted medical evidence and are not approved--perpetuating homelessness.

Childhood epilepsy and Social Security disability benefits

Excerpt from Disability Tips: (click for entire article)

How does Social Security look at children’s disability cases based on epilepsy or other seizure disorders?

Social Security first considers the Listing of Impairments. The Listings are a set of descriptions of medical conditions which can be disabling. The Listings tell you the what kind medical evidence you need and the medical findings to prove that the condition is disabling.  While the Listings are not the only way to be found disabled, they are very important in children’s disability cases.

Statement of Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, on the Initial Success of the New Online Social Security Statement

Excerpt from Social Security: (click for entire article)

I am pleased with the public’s initial response to our new online Social Security Statement. Since our May 1 launch, more than 130,000 people have successfully created an online account to access their Statement information, with the first 100,000 coming online in less than three days.

Our new online Statement is simple and easy-to-use, and the initial satisfaction scores from users prove it.  According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, users are giving the online Statement a score of 89, making it competitive with our other top-rated, best-in-government online services.

Social Security and Department of Defense Implement New Process to Improve Efficiency for Wounded Warriors Applying for Disability Benefits

Excerpt from SSA.gov: (click for entire article)

The Social Security Administration and the Department of Defense (DoD) are working together to improve access to disability benefits for the nation’s Wounded Warriors, service members, veterans, and their dependents.  A new nationwide project enables Social Security disability case processing sites to receive military medical records from multiple DoD facilities with a single request to a centralized DoD site.  As of today, this initiative is in its first phase of nationwide expansion.

“Receiving electronic medical records for our Wounded Warriors and other military personnel will significantly shorten the time it takes to make a disability decision,” said Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security.  “This new process will improve the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of the disability program.”

Social Security - What You Can Do Online

SSA.gov has updated their "What You Can Do Online" webpage.  Visit SSA.gov to see the services they offer online.

Registration for Work Incentive Seminar Events

Excerpt from Ticket to Work: (click for entire article)

Are you interested in learning about how work will affect your Social Security benefits?

If you are interested in learning about the Ticket to Work Program or Work Incentives, you can attend a free Work Incentive Seminar Event (WISE) online webinar.

Preserving Social Security

Excerpt from The Huffington Post: (click for entire article)

It might surprise many in Washington, but if you ask hardworking Americans what their greatest economic concern is they don't say budget deficits or the national debt. No, what I hear most often from Americans is that they are frightened at the prospect of being financially insecure in retirement.

By some estimates, the gap between what Americans have saved for retirement and what they need to maintain their standard of living in retirement stands at $6.6 trillion. Despite this, every spring when the Social Security Trustees' annual report is published, the usual suspects take to the airwaves to blame Social Security for our budget problems and urge deep cuts to the program, something that would make the retirement crisis even worse.