Massachusetts Social Security Disability Lawyers Blog

The month of February is American Heart Month, and there are public service announcements and educational efforts throughout the month designed to draw attention to the serious risks of heart disease. Each year in the United States, around 600,000 people die from heart disease. These deaths account for around ¼ of all deaths over the course of the year. Heart disease is also the leading cause of death for women, although many people incorrectly assume that breast cancer is the top killer of females.

In addition to American Heart Month, February also has several other days devoted to bringing attention to serious health problems. For example, World Cancer Day is February 4, and National Organ Donor Day is February 14.

The myriad health-related events in the month of February are an important reminder that people every day get sick or hurt and become disabled. Often, these disabilities end a career and make it impossible to work, throwing families into chaos as they lose a breadwinner and face crippling medical bills. The Social Security Disability (SSD) program should be there for those who are sick and who need help, but it can sometimes be hard to qualify for disability income. A Boston SSD lawyer can help applicants to qualify for benefits or appeal denials.
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Veterans who are disabled and who need financial help currently face a bureaucratic nightmare. There are lengthy backlogs in the veterans’ disability benefits system that leave some people waiting years to have their claims evaluated. In addition to navigating through the VA system, veterans who also qualify for Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits have an entirely separate application process to go through that is also lengthy and that also requires providing a mountain of paperwork and medical records.

Navigating through this application process for both VA and SSD benefits is not only time consuming but it is also very stressful for people who are sick or impaired and who need income to support themselves and their family members. While a Boston disability benefits lawyer can provide invaluable assistance, up until now, there has been very little that can be done to cut down on the months-long waiting period.

Fortunately, the Social Security Administration has reportedly decided to take some action to help disabled veterans who need SSD income. The SSA plans to streamline and expedite the application process of certain qualifying veterans.
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In a recent New York Times editorial piece, Social Security Administration administrative law judge D. Randall Frye laments what he considers holes in the system that allow claimants to perpetuate fraud. He calls for drastic changes to the system, such as allowing judges to tap into social media when making their considerations and limiting the amount of attorney involvement in these cases.

We respectfully disagree with his stance. Our Boston SSDI attorneys have a great deal of admiration for the work that administrative law judges must do. It’s not an easy task to sort through hundreds of cases annually – sometimes two or three a day – and do their best to reach a fair conclusion in each case. We recognize that almost every one of these judges is working very hard to be fair to claimants, while also being good stewards of the public trust. It can be a tough balancing act.

That being said, there are very good reasons why, for example, judges shouldn’t be weighing social media posts in connection with their decision and why lawyers are necessary to help usher people through the process.
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More than 100 defendants have been indicted on charges that they sought to defraud the Social Security Administration of disability benefits by feigning physical and mental illness.

Officials say the retired New York City firefighters and police officers were coached on how to behave and what to say during their medical exams. Those who had worked during the 2001 terrorist attacks were reportedly instructed to detail their fear of skyscrapers and airplanes and told to reiterate that they were unable to leave their homes.

Many of those individuals were successful in securing SSDI benefits. However, officials say their Facebook pages revealed a much different narrative. Claimants who attested to being terrified to leave their homes were seen in posted photographs flying helicopters, playing basketball, riding motorcycles, fishing and more. Officials say the fraud may involve as many as 1,000 people and may go back as far as 1988, which, if proven true, would be the largest fraud ever perpetuated on the SSDI program.
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Senate Republicans and Democrats alike are throwing their support behind S. 1845, a measure that would pilfer money set aside for disabled workers in order extend benefits to those who can’t find work.

It’s a horrible idea.

For one thing, it’s predicated on the idea that somehow the Social Security Disability Insurance program has excess money to spare. In 2012, the total disability insurance expenditures topped $135 billion (that includes costs for staff, judges, etc.). That sounds like a lot, until you begin to consider that the trust fund for the program is projected to be exhausted in just two years. Legislators still haven’t offered a concrete plan to address this issue.
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