Guest Blog By: Susan Michele Schaefer, Cardea Law Group, LLC Every year, one week before Thanksgiving, National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week brings to light the struggles many people have with hunger and lack of shelter. As part of the awareness effort, I am sharing my experience helping the homeless and others facing barriers with their Social Security disability claims....

This week’s announcement that the Social Security Administration (SSA) will be increasing the ALJ jurisdictional authorization limit for fee petitions to $12,000 was a major victory for NOSSCR members. The new limit will be effective on November 30, 2022. “We understand how this limit effectively works as a cap for representatives who routinely request the jurisdictional maximum to avoid further...

This Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. Administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA), SSI is a vital lifeline for older Americans and people with disabilities that helps them put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads by providing modest income support. The maximum monthly benefit amount that participants will...

The Social Security Administration announced this morning that Social Security beneficiaries will receive an 8.7 percent increase in 2023. That is good news for people with disabilities and older Americans who rely on Social Security or Supplemental Security Income benefits. The average Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefit is expected to increase from $1,364/month in 2022 to $1,483/month in 2023....

NOSSCR President David Camp was quoted in a Washington Post story this morning that provided a stinging critique of the Social Security Administration. The article exposed the widespread impact the agency's decline in service has had for people applying for disability and other benefits. Among the facts included in the article were: During the first week in September, 21 percent...

The U.S. Senate version of the bill to keep the federal government funded beyond September 30 includes $400 million for the Social Security Administration (SSA). The so-called “anomaly” included in the Continuing Resolution will prevent SSA from having to institute a hiring freeze and cut overtime pay for employees. While NOSSCR and the disability community had been seeking $800 million...

With two weeks left in the federal government’s fiscal year, congressional staff are working feverishly to reach agreement on a Continuing Resolution (CR) that would fund the government beyond September 30. At this point, NOSSCR officials are hearing that the length of the CR hasn’t been finalized, however it is widely expected to extend at least through the November general...

Having a disability should not prevent you from getting married. Yet, for many Americans who qualify as Disabled Adult Children (DAC) and receive Social Security disability or receive SSI benefits based on disability, that is exactly what’s happening. The New York Times has published an article that covers the “outdated ideas that have marginalized the disabled” and penalize those who...

Earlier this week, Forbes published an article from Andrew Pulrang exploring the impact that disabled voters could have on the 2022 elections. With control of both chambers of Congress in play this November, a bloc of voters in a handful of states could decide which party controls the legislative branch of government next year. And it turns out that disabled...

It was 1935 and the nation was suffering through the Great Depression. Millions of Americans were out of work and struggling to feed their families. In August of that year, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law one of the most consequential bills in the country’s history – the 1935 Social Security Act. This month we celebrate the 87th birthday...