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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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Best Source of Up-to-Date news on workers' compensation and disability in New York

Recession causes spike in social security disability claims

Posted on Jul 31, 2009

The US economic recession is hitting disabled New Yorkers hard. Not only are injured workers already struggling to make ends meet, but if they expect to rely on Social Security Disability benefits to try and make ends meet they may be in for an even longer wait.

Social Security officials are expecting the number of disability claims to spike because of the number of people applying for benefits during these lean times. Claims were estimated to peak at 3 million five months ago, but officials now estimate they’ll receive 3.3 million claims over the next year.

What is driving the increase? Officials believe that aging baby boomers are now working harder than ever to prepare for retirement in an uncertain future, and this combined with their increased susceptibility to injury is leading more of them to need disability benefits.

The numbers are chilling: claims are up from 556,000 eight months ago to 736,000 so far this month, a 30 percent increase that will stress an already overburdened system.

Adding to the problem, some states are choosing to furlough claims processors in an attempt to save their budgets. The problem is that processors are federal employees, so not only do these furloughs do nothing to save money but they increase the claims backlog.

What is the government doing to move these extra claims forward? The SSA received stimulus money to hire more judges and claims processors, and Commissioner Astrue has promised the backlog will be resolved by 2013 as planned. It remains to be seen if he can make this promise a reality.