While Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is best-known for his activism fighting racial injustice, he had an equally powerful commitment to righting economic inequalities. In his Nobel Peace Prize lecture in the winter of 1964, Dr. King said “This problem of poverty is not only seen in the class division between the highly developed industrial nations and the so-called underdeveloped nations; it...

On April 16, 2021, the Social Security Administration (SSA) released policy guidance for people with long COVID.2 The first step that people have to take to qualify for benefits involves establishing a medically determinable impairment from COVID-19. For people who have or had COVID-19, there are three options to do this: A report of a positive viral test for COVID-19 A...

As we enter 2022, the second session of the 117th Congress is beginning.  While much of Washington, DC is still focused on the pandemic and continuing efforts to reach a deal on President Biden’s Build Back Better legislation, NOSSCR remains focused on its top two priorities: raising the fee cap for Social Security disability representatives and eliminating the 5-month and...

Last week, President Biden released an Executive Order (EO) titled Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government with the broad goal of using technology to modernize Government services so that they are "simple to use, accessible, equitable, protective, transparent, and responsive for all people of the United States." Further, several of the EO's directives are...

Two hours west in Jackson, an old cotton city where almost 1 in 4 people live in poverty, Beth Bates, a legal services attorney, reviewed 4,000 pages of medical records she needed to know cold for an upcoming appeal for a client with degenerative disc disease, breathing problems and borderline intellectual function who had twice been turned down for benefits....

On December 7, 2021, House Ways & Means Social Security Subcommittee, chaired by John Larson (D-CT), held a hearing titled “The Fierce Urgency of Now – Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust.” Click here to view the recordings, review the witness list, and read the testimony. The following is a synopsis of some of the more salient arguments for the...

On December 5, Senator Robert Joseph Dole passed away in his sleep at the age of 98. He served the United States loyally for 79 years, including serving in World War II where he sustained life-altering injuries while overseas. The aftermath of his injuries shaped his life’s mission and legacy. While stationed in Italy in 1945, he was struck by...

The Social Security Administration's (SSA) draft plan for starting to reopen was recently published - click here to read it.  This "pre-decisional" document is not necessarily final, and it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. We know that senior SSA staff will begin to return to in-person work on December 1, 2021, with most other employees beginning their re-entry on...

The Appointed Representative Services (ARS) Hearing Office provided NOSSCR this status report on Monday, November 22, from the Social Security Administration (SSA): "Over the weekend a change made to our case processing system caused an issue with ARS. The Hearing Office Status Report is currently unavailable for appointed representatives. We are actively working to resolve the issue. We have asked...

Pedro Cruz Sanchez, Esq. Author’s Note: I write these words as a testament in dedication to my father, Pedro J. Cruz-Cruz, a Korean War Era Veteran, and to my more than 15 cousins from Puerto Rico or Puerto Rican origin who have served or are serving in the military, with passion and conviction for the preservation of our...