Social Security Disability News

 Posted on August 21, 2011 in Social Security Disability

I often find myself preaching to clients and the public about the importance of keeping copies of all correspondence with the Social Security Administration (SSA). I do this because I know from personal experience that documents are misplaced or lost by the government everyday. Keeping copies of everything can insure that mistakes are corrected, at least so I thought. What happens when SSA accidentally finds that you are dead? On August 17th, 2011, writer for CNN.com, Blake Ellis, published an article entitled, "Social Security Wrongly Declares 14,000 People Dead Each Year." The article discusses situations where the government erroneously declares people dead and then stops all financial payments to that individual.

The article told the story of Laura Brooks, who was wrongly pronounced dead by SSA. Because of governmental error, her disability checks stopped and her bank account was closed until she could "prove that she was alive." It took two months for her to rectify the situation and "come back to life." Could you imagine the financial hardship that she must have gone through during those two months! Click here, if you would like to read the CNN.com article.

While the Laura Brooks story may be an extreme when it comes to SSA error, it does go to show that nothing is easy when it comes to applying and receiving Social Security disability benefits. The process can be long and full of red-tape just to win your claim. If you win your disability benefits claim, that does not necessarily mean that you will receive all of the back benefits that you are entitled to. And, even if you win your claim and get all of your back benefits, that does not guarantee that you will continue to receive those benefits without having to jump through hoops along the way (in Laura Brooks case proving that she is still alive). Mistakes happen. Make sure to keep all of your correspondence and documents with SSA so you are prepared in case you end up having to jump through some hoops as well.