Social Security Disability Fraud

Texas workers are, to say the least, very frustrated when they receive a social security denial. At least 2 or 3 times a week I talk to claimants who are even more frustrated that they know persons in the community getting social security disability who are not nearly as ill as they are. There are always (and always will be) people who are willing to commit fraud. If you know someone that is taking advantage of the government disability program, you should consider contacting the Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG). It is their job to handle reports of fraud, waste and abuse in Social Security cases. According to SSA, the purpose of the Inspector General is:

“To promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the administration of SSA programs.

To prevent and detect fraud, waste and abuse in SSA programs and operations.

To inform the SSA and Congress about problems and deficiencies and to recommend corrective action.”

To report fraud for Social Security Disability, you can visit the OIG section of the SSA website. (http://www.ssa.gov/oig). Or you can call the Fraud Hotline at 1-800-269-0271. But a strong word of caution: you may not know and see all that someone getting disability benefits is dealing with. Don't assume they are committing fraud just because they "seem" well. If on the other hand you know a disability recipient pulling the engine out of his car, playing golf everyday, or bragging that they have "gotten to" the government, you owe it to all like yourself to report fraud.

Laided Off & Disabled: Another Reasons Why You Should take COBRA

Everyday in my social security disability disability practice I see the tragedy of the US health insurance system for disabled workers. It is hard to win social security disability benefits without being under the regular care of a doctor. For most of us, medical insurance is tied to our job. Lose your job, lose your medical benefits.

Most of are familar with co-called COBRA benefits. If your employer is covered under COBRA (read, a major sized employer) you have to be given the option of continuing medical benefits for up to 18 months under the plan as long as you pay the premium. COBRA allows the employer to pass certain medical plan administrative costs on to the COBRA enrollee, so people who have just lost their job are often shocked when they get the letter offering COBRA at how high the monthly premium is, and elect to go without medical insurance.

That is a particularly tragic decision for the disabled worker, since medical care is key to wining the case. Often times, by the time I get called the disabled worker has already waived the COBRA benefits.

President Obama has made it a little easier for laid off workers to take COBRA by subsidizing the insurance. Now, workers laid off between September 1, 2008 and February 28, 2010 will only have to pay 35% of what the COBRA medical insurance premium would have been. So if you have filed for social security disability, and have been laid off, you owe it to yourself to take the COBRA coverage if you have no other medical insurance available.

Is Medication Effective for Depression?

Many of you have probably heard of a recent medical study finding that medications are no more effective than a placebo (a sugar pill) in treating mild depression. I really worry about how most social security disability applicants are going to interpret this recent news.

It has been my experience that most people who have a severe physical problem suffer from depression and/or anxiety, and its usually more than just "mild". But I have also observed that most of us have trouble acknowledging mental health problems and seeking help for them. And often times when we have lived with feelings of sadness or anxiety for a while we don't realize how bad those feelings have become.

So my worry is that people that are very depressed and anxious, thinking their symptoms to only be mild, will think of this study when offered a medication that could help them, and decline the offer. So I encourage all my clients to take a good look at their mental state, ask the opinion family or friends who often see more of our moods than we are aware of, and consider whether depression/anxiety medications could be helpful.

Do you need a Texas lawyer for your Texas disability case?

Social Security law is federal, not state. So a New York based law firm is able to represent a Texas social security disability claimant. As a result there are a number of law firms that brag about being "nationwide" and being "the most successful in the country"(translate, biggest).

But local social security representation does matter. My fellow social security attorney Geri Khan points out how she helped solve one of her client's problem "the old fashioned way" - by visiting the local security office and meeting with personnel she has grown to know over the years in her San Francisco California social security disability practice. (http://californiasocialsecuritylawyerblog.com/2009/09/14/it-helps-to-be-local/) My colleague and fellow social security disability practitioner Gordon Gates limits his representation to Maine and New Hampshire, and does a nice job on his blog in explaining why local representation matters. Read it at http://www.socialsecuritydisabilitylawyer.us/blog/2009/08/home-field-advantage.html. Gordon analogizes local social security representation to a "home field advantage" in sports - in particular, as Gordon is a New Englander after all, Fenway Park and the Boston Red Sox. I can personalize that analogy to this weekend's NFC Playoff game in Cowboy Stadium (pictured above, don't you know).

I limit my social security disability representation to Dallas Fort Worth, and North and East Texas - the areas handled by the two Dallas Hearing Offices and the one in Fort Worth. Knowing the particular style and expectations of the administrative law judges is very important. Now does this mean that Binder and Binder can't do a good job on your Dallas social security disability case? Absolutely not. But I do believe, like attorney Gates, that the "home field advantage" does matter. So can The Philadelphia Eagles win Saturday on our "home field"? Yes. Are they gonna? No way.

Hearing Wait is Coming Down

Even since I began handling only social security disability disability cases 18 years ago, the wait in Dallas and Fort Worth Texas for an administrative hearing before an administrative law judge has been appropriately 12 months. But in the last 18 months I have seen the waiting time at the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) come down. On average it is now taking less than 12 months from the hearing request to get a hearing before an administrative law judge.

Official reports from ODAR for October 2009, continue to show improvement in reducing hearing level processing times and the number of pending cases as follows:

• Pending cases dropped for the tenth straight month, down to 717,884, about 5,000 fewer than in September 2009. This is the lowest ODAR pending number since February 2008.

• The average processing time is 441 days, the lowest monthly processing time since April 2005.

The table above shows that the Dallas Region has the lowest waiting time for any of the 10 regions in the US. So, 2010 shows real progress for social security disability applicants in Dallas Fort Worth!