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76 percent of people who qualify for housing aid don’t get it
Many federal programs in the US are structured as entitlements. For example, if you’ve worked enough months and paid payroll taxes, you’re entitled to Social Security payments and Medicare coverage. If you meet federal eligibility requirements for food stamps (which states…
Social Security Changes the Way it Reviews Special Needs Trusts
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has issued Emergency Message 14026A which provides new instructions for how SSA reviews Special Needs Trusts.Under this new policy Social Security has established a new Regional Trust Reviewer Team which must review all resource determinations for trusts…
Shinseki Out: Obama Says He’s Accepted VA Chief’s Resignation
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has resigned amid explosive charges of mismanagement, falsification of records and systemic problems at veterans health facilities. President Barack Obama announced that he accepted Shinseki’s resignation “with considerable regret” after meeting with him on Friday morning.…
The Social Security Statement: Background, Implementation, and Recent Developments
This article provides the first comprehensive description of the substantial effort and resources involved in developing and implementing the annual earnings and benefit statement that the Social Security Administration (SSA) began mailing in 2000 to all workers aged 25 or older.…
YOUR MONEY-A money guide for fiftysomethings
Is it too late to save for retirement when you’re 50 or older? When should you start taking Social Security? These are some of the questions Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, president of the Charles Schwab Foundation and member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial…
Study: Record Number of Women Receiving Disability Payments
A record number of women are receiving Social Security disability payments as females have steadily outpaced new male recipients since 2000, new research shows. Women made up about 29 percent of all workers on disability in 1970. By 2000, that number…
The Retirement Apocalypse Isn’t Coming
Grandma’s much anticipated Arctic cruise becomes a slow drift away on an ice floe. Grandpa mortgages his kidneys to pay for a new heart. Social Security is deader than disco. That bleak vision is only a slight exaggeration of the retirement…
How Disability Is Represented in Theater
At the end of my junior year I began doing work with a group on campus called Wesleyan Students for Disability Rights (WSDR). Although I had never considered myself an activist, my work in my American Sign Language class inspired…
Retirement Savings on the Rebound, Research Shows
401(k) account balances have gone up 93 percent, nearly double since the economic downturn in 2009 according to the latest research from the Principal Financial Group(R) . While much of the increase reflects a rebounding market, the study found a…
Medicare intends to penalize hospitals for giving followup care to seniors
Medicare has announced plans to penalize 2,633 hospitals for giving followup care to seniors, even if the care was appropriate. Northwestern Memorial in Chicago is the largest hospital in Illinois. It did 1,651 elective hip and knee replacements for Medicare in 2009-2012, and…