SSA Fast-Tracks Heart Disease Claims

In a press release issued July 14, 2011, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced it would bring the total number of Compassionate Allowance (CAL) conditions up to an even 100, with the addition of 12 new conditions. Although claimants filing under these health issues would ordinarily receive prompt attention by the Disability Determination Service (DDS), this announcement providing immediate CAL identification benefits the disabled claimant.

According to the release, “Compassionate Allowances are a way to quickly identify diseases and other medical conditions that, by definition, meet Social Security’s standards for disability benefits. These conditions primarily include certain cancers, adult brain disorders, and a number of rare disorders that affect children.”

The 12 new conditions involve severe heart disease:

• Aortic Atresia
• Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) Recipient
• Eisenmenger Syndrome
• Mitral Valve Atresia
• Endomyocardial Fibrosis
• Primary Cardiac Amyloidosis
• Heart Transplant Graft Failure
• Pulmonary Atresia
• Heart Transplant Wait List – 1A/1B
• Single Ventricle
• Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
• Tricuspid Atresia

The combination of compassionate allowance cases with SSA’s Quick Disability Determination (QDD) process has allowed the agency to approve over 100,000 claims last year, with an average processing time (according to SSA) of fewer than two weeks. SSA is also on track to approve approximately 150,000 CAL/QDD claims this year.

Because of the agency’s success over the last few years, which has been enhanced through on-going public hearings held to learn more about the conditions included in their compassionate allowance list, SSA made the decision to streamline this process even further.  According to SSA Commissioner, Michael J. Astrue, “By definition, these illnesses are so severe that we don’t need to fully develop the applicant’s work history to make a decision.”  Therefore, the agency has decided that beginning in August 2011, it will eliminate this part of the application process for people who have a condition on the list.

A full copy of the press release can also be found here: compassionate-allowances100conditions-pr-alt.pdf

SSDI benefits will increase 3.6% in 2012

Columbia, Missouri (October 19, 2011) – Monthly Social Security benefits for more than 60 million Americans will increase 3.6 percent in 2012, the Social Security Administration announced this morning.

The 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with payments Social Security beneficiaries will receive in January 2012. Increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30, 2011.

A Bureau of Labor Statistics official said a subset of the consumer price index — the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or the CPI-W — rose by 3.6% in the third quarter of 2011 from the same period in 2008. That’s significant because the figure is normally used by the government to calculate changes in Social Security checks. It’s the first time the benchmark has risen in three years.

The 2012 cost of living adjustment is the first increase in since 2009. For a beneficiary who receives $15,000 per year from SSA, this would amount to $540 more per year or $45 more per month.

But, most beneficiaries who have been receiving benefits from SSA for at least the last two years are not likely to receive the full amount of the COLA increase because the expected hike in Medicare premiums could eat up part of the raise. The change in Medicare premiums, which could increase by a double-digit rate, should be announced next month.

Some other changes that take effect in January of each year are based on the increase in average wages. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $110,100 from $106,800. Of the estimated 161 million workers who will pay Social Security taxes in 2012, about 10 million will pay higher taxes as a result of the increase in the taxable maximum.
Email Missy Thomas, Director of Marketing and Client Relations for Bassett Law Firm, LLC at mthomas@bassettlawyers.com for more information.

Bassett Law Awarded Woman‐Owned Business Enterprise Certification

On June 27, 2011, The Bassett Law Firm became certified by the State of Missouri Office of Administration as a bona fide Woman‐Owned Business Enterprise (WBE).

Obtaining WBE Certification is an important designation for women business owners for two primary reasons: having WBE Certification is the only way that the public can have confidence that a business representing itself as woman‐owned is in fact woman‐owned. Second, many states and governmental agencies, as well as corporations, track and have programs for doing business with women‐owned vendor companies.

Greta M. Bassett-Seymour is the owner/managing attorney of the seven year old firm, practicing Social Security and Veterans Disability law throughout Missouri and nationwide.

SSA Announces 13 New Compassionate Allowance Conditions

In a press release dated October 13, 2011, Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, announced 13 new Compassionate Allowances conditions involving the immune system and neurological disorders. The Compassionate Allowances program fast-tracks disability decisions to ensure that Americans with the most serious disabilities receive their benefit decisions within days instead of months or years. Commissioner Astrue made the announcement during his remarks at the U.S. Conference on Rare Diseases and Orphan Products in Washington, D.C today.

The Compassionate Allowances initiative identifies claims where the nature of the applicant’s disease or condition clearly meets the statutory standard for disability. With the help of sophisticated new information technology, the agency can quickly identify potential Compassionate Allowances and then quickly make decisions.

The agency also announced a small grant program for graduate students that will help Social Security improve its list and has recently awarded an approximately $1.8 million grant over a five-year period to Policy Research, Incorporated (PRI) through the Disability Determination Process Small Grant Program. This new program aims to improve the disability process through innovative research by graduate students who will receive small stipends for their work. In addition, the agency recently streamlined its online disability application for people who have a condition on the Compassionate Allowances list.

New Compassionate Allowances Conditions

• Malignant Multiple Sclerosis
• Paraneoplastic Pemphigus
• Multicentric Castleman Disease
• Pulmonary Kaposi Sarcoma
• Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma
• Primary Effusion Lymphoma
• Angelman Syndrome
• Lewy Body Dementia
• Lowe Syndrome
• Corticobasal Degeneration
• Multiple System Atrophy
• Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
• The ALS/Parkinsonism Dementia Complex

In August, SSA made the decision to streamline this process even further. According to SSA Commissioner, Michael J. Astrue, “By definition, these illnesses are so severe that we don’t need to fully develop the applicant’s work history to make a decision.” Therefore, the agency had decided that beginning in August 2011, it would eliminate this part of the application process for people who have a condition on the list.For more information on the Compassionate Allowances initiative or how Bassett Law Firm assists your claimants through the process, feel free to email Missy Thomas at mthomas@bassettlawyers.com or give me a call at 800-331-1127, ext. 218.

A full copy of the press release can also be found here: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/ss-expands-compassionate-allowances-alt.pdf