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Social Security Disability

Social Security Disability – A Look at Reconsideration

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Social Security Disability

IF I OWN MY OWN BUSINESS AND HAVE A DISABLING CONDITION THAT PREVENTS ME FROM TECHNICALLY "DOING WORK" WITHIN MY BUSINESS, AM I ELIGIBLE FOR RECEIVING SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFITS?

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$500 Million in Suspended Social Security Disability Benefits Returned

Posted on Sep 30, 2010

The Social Security Administration thought that they had saved $500 million by not paying Social Security Disability benefits to “fleeing felons”. Fleeing felons were identified by the SSA using a database of arrest warrants.

Many of those denied benefits after their name came up in the database were shocked. It turns out that the SSA was searching the arrest warrant database with little more than first name, last name, and date of birth. As a result, if a disability benefits applicant had a name or date of birth similar to somebody in the arrest warrant database, they were flagged as s fleeing felon – and they were denied benefits.

This was unfair to a vast number of people who were denied benefits, and resulted in a class action lawsuit against the SSA. Some people were wrongly matched up with a person in the warrant database, and others had no idea that they had an outstanding warrant in their name.

To fix this situation, the SSA is mailing out notices to affected individuals. They have six months to reapply for benefits and submit a disability claim.

However, under the terms of the settlement the SSA did not have to admit that they did anything wrong. As a result, the people who suffered because they were wrongly denied benefits will only get the benefits they are owed, not any additional money for suffering or loss of income.