Proving that mental illnesses cause you to be completely disabled is challenging to begin with. When you miss your hearing date because you are in jail for threatening to hurt or kill representatives of the Social Security Administration (SSA) because of how they’ve handled your claim, you’re not doing yourself any favors.
In their continuing efforts to improve the efficiency of the Social Security disability system for those who have the most obviously debilitating or terminal conditions, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has recently added twelve more conditions to its Compassionate Allowances Listings.
Somewhere in the midst of wrangling over the debt ceiling and arguing over how to reduce our national spending while increasing our national revenues, Social Security benefits got thrown into the mix.
There has been a lot of talk coming out of Washington lately regarding how the debate over raising the nation’s debt limit could affect Social Security benefits if an agreement isn’t reached. For millions of Americans who depend on Social Security benefits, including many of the nation’s poor and middle class citizens, this rhetoric is causing a great deal of anxiety. What will people who depend on Social Security benefits do if checks can’t continue to be issued on the 3rd of the month?
Northern Indiana attorney Thomas Scully has recently written to local newspapers and Internet media outlets expressing concern for Social Security disability claimants. At the heart of Scully’s concerns is the fact that the SSA appears to have shut down its Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) in the Miller area. This office had previously served Social Security disability claimants from Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago.
