DISABILITY BENEFIT RECOVERY

If action is not taken, the Disability Insurance trust fund will not be able to pay full scheduled benefits by 2016. Workers and employers pay for disability protection through FICA taxes, deducted from wages and matched by the employer.  The total tax is 6.2 percent of earnings (with ceilings).  5.3 percent of that tax goes into the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund, sometimes call the retirement fund.  The remaining 0.9 percent goes into the Disability Insurance trust fund. The Disability Insurance trust fund is expected to be depleted in 2016.  After that date, taxes coming into the Disability trust fund would cover only about 76 percent of scheduled benefits.  The trust fund has faced such emergencies before and Congress has never allowed the benefits to drop. A typical fix would be to temporarily allocate more of the 6.2% tax from the OASI (retirement) fund to the Disability fund.  That would mean that both funds could pay full be...

Fibromyalgia is a real disease that poses real limits on the ability to work.  Still, Social Security continues to have some problems in awarding benefits based on fibromyalgia. Social Security now recognizes that Fibromyalgia can be a disabling impairment.  Federal court cases continue to support that finding.  In Sublett v. Astrue, 856 F.Supp.2d 614 (W.D.N.Y. 2012 ), the District Court awarded benefits in a case where the hearing judge had rejected the opinion of the treating doctors in a case involving Fibromyalgia. The court ruled that, "the decision denying benefits is reversed and the plaintiff is awarded disability benefits." As with most Social Security disability cases, the key is persistence.  The correct decision will not be made at all levels.  So appeal unfavorable decisions to the next level when you believe your case has merit.  

If you're about to go to a Social Security disability hearing, be prepared to answer dozens of questions.  Be aware that some of these may be "trap questions."  Here are a few trap questions that I've heard during my years of Social Security disability representation. "Can you lift your five-year old grandson?"  May translate as, "You tell me you have a bad back but you can lift 60 pounds?" "Do you still like to go fishing?"  May translate as, "The claimant is well enough to fish, he's probably well enough to work." "How is your golf score holding up these days?"  May translate to:  "If the claimant can play golf, don't tell me she can't bend, reach, stoop or kneel with the best of them." Obviously, some of these questions may be valid.  Just as obviously, the claimant needs to tell the truth.  I advise my clients never to lie or exaggerate.  I also tell them to try to give a complete and ...