Social Security Disability & Special Needs Planning News

about Social Security Disability & SSI benefits as part of a workshop entitled "Taking Care of Business, Legally and Financially" from 12:45 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Circle of Support is being held on Saturday, November 5, 2011, from 8:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m at Hylton High School, 14051 Spriggs Road, Woodbridge, Virginia.

Needham Mitnick & Pollack will also have an information table at this event.

For more information, and to register, please visit the Arc of Greater Prince William County.

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Issue: # 39

October 2011

Picture of Social Security Card and Dice

Greetings!

Welcome to the thirty-ninth edition of our newsletter.

You may have been added to our e-mail newsletter mailing list if you have been in contact with Sheri R. Abrams, Attorney at Law or the Law Firm of Needham Mitnick & Pollack PLC.

These monthly newsletters are designed to show you how not to gamble with your or your patients/clients Social Security Disability and/or SSI benefits. We also provide you with information on Special Needs Planning.

You may unsubscribe by clicking on the link at the end of this e-mail.

Social Security Recipients Are Expected to Get COLA in 2012

For the past two years those who receive Social Security Disability and Social Security Retirement have not received a cost of living increase to their benefit amount. But in 2012 this is expected to change, when an announcement is made this week and will be effective starting this January

This increase is because for the first time in the last 2 years the consumer price index - a measure of how much it costs consumers, on average, to buy things like food and transportation - rose considerably from a year ago.

Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (or COLA) is calculated using this index, and payments are increased when the measure jumps from one year to the next.

Based on this index data, the raise is likely to be about 3.5%. A person who receives $10,000 from Social Security last year would receive an extra $350 in 2012.

However, some of this increase will be lost to higher Medicare premiums, which are deducted from Social Security payments.

Medicare Part B premiums for 2012 are expected to be announced next week, and the trustees who oversee the program are projecting an increase.

Social Security Expands Compassionate Allowances Conditions

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, announced 13 new Compassionate Allowances conditions involving the immune system and neurological disorders.

The Compassionate Allowances program fast-tracks disability decisions to ensure that Americans with the most serious disabilities

receive their benefit decisions within

days instead of months or years.

Commissioner Astrue made the announcement during his remarks at the U.S. Conference on Rare Diseases and Orphan Products in Washington, D.C. "Social Security handles more than three million disability applications each year and we need to keep innovating and making our work more efficient," Commissioner Astrue said. "With our Compassionate Allowances program, we quickly approved disability benefits for more than 60,000 people with severe disabilities in the past fiscal year. We have made significant improvements, but we can always do more."

The Compassionate Allowances initiative identifies claims where the nature of the applicant's disease or condition clearly meets the statutory standard for disability. With the help of sophisticated new information technology, the agency can quickly identify potential Compassionate Allowances and then quickly make decisions. Social Security launched the Compassionate Allowances program in 2008 with a list of 50 diseases and conditions.

The announcement of 13 new conditions, effective in December, will increase the total number of Compassionate Allowances conditions to 113. The conditions include certain cancers, adult brain disorders, a number of rare genetic disorders of children, early-onset Alzheimer's disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and other disorders.

In addition, the agency recently streamlined its online disability application for people who have a condition on the Compassionate Allowances list.

New Compassionate Allowances Conditions:

Malignant Multiple Sclerosis
Paraneoplastic Pemphigus
Multicentric Castleman Disease
Pulmonary Kaposi Sarcoma
Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma
Primary Effusion Lymphoma
Angelman Syndrome
Lewy Body Dementia
Lowe Syndrome
Corticobasal Degeneration
Multiple System Atrophy
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
The ALS/Parkinsonism Dementia Complex

New iPhone App "Wheelmap" Shows Wheelchair Access Around the World

Wheelmap, is a new iPhone app that shows wheelchair access around the world. With Wheelmap, a person who uses a wheelchair won't be stopped by accessibility issues because the app will tell them if they can get into the building and move around freely.

The app tags different locations on an open-source map with red, yellow or green to indicate the level of wheelchair access each location provides. Locations tagged red have no wheelchair access; yellow locations have partial wheelchair access, and green locations are totally accessible to individuals who use wheelchairs. Locations without a wheelchair access rating are gray. The easy to use application also allows users to search for locations much like other map applications for the iPhone.

The Wheelmap iPhone app is also linked to the Wheelmap website, where users from around the world can contribute to developing the app by rating locations for wheelchair accessibility.

For information on this app click here.

Sheri Abrams' Book "Don't Gamble With Your Social Security Disability Benefits--What Every Virginia Resident Needs To Know To Win A Social Security Disability Case" Is Available.