Social Security Closing Schedule for Thanksgiving Weekend

Tomorrow, all social security offices will be closed to public to give employees time off their on Thanksgiving Day as a sign of gratitude for their hard work this year.

Based on the 2013 Holiday Closing Schedules released by the Social Security Administration (SSA) in its official web page, all of its offices will be closed by November 28 in line with the celebration of nationwide feast, the Thanksgiving Day.

In addition, the agency also announced that the day after the Thanksgiving, although employees are required to report back to their job, all offices will still be closed to public so that employees may focus on working in backlog reduction.

Over the years, the said federal agency has been striving hard to reduce the huge backlogs of disability benefit claims. Thus, roughly 20 percent reduction of backlogs this year alone is already considered a milestone achieved for them.

Nevertheless, although the current administration is proud of the federal agency’s significant progress in reducing backlogs, the agency is highly committed in constantly pushing efforts to diminish the backlogs.  

Moving on, after Thanksgiving weekend, all social security offices will resume to its usual business hours.

Fortunately, thanks to digital technology, even if social security offices are closed, many of the agency’s services will still be available online. For applicants, you can apply for retirement, Medicare and disability benefits online. You can also sign up for a direct deposit account, replace Medicare card, obtain a proof of income letter and change personal information such as address and telephone number via www.socialsecurity.gov or just by dialing the agency’s toll free number, 1-800-772-1213.

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Government Overpaid More than a Billion over Improper Social Security Benefits

Generally, the Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits are available for the Americans who have been deemed to be physically or mentally impaired by a long-term condition that prevents them from being able to work. However, people nowadays seem to take advantage of the said federal program.

According to recent news reports, the American watchdog Government Accountability Office (GOA) found out that the Social Security Administration (SSA) has overpaid an approximately $1.3 billion in Social Security Disability benefits to thousands of recipients who were not eligible to receive the said benefits.

Based on GOA’s report, since the beginning of the year, nearly 36,000 people have been receiving “potential overpayments” from the SSA.

Under the agency’s “strict” policy, a disability benefit applicant must go through a five-month waiting period in which the claimant’s earnings must not exceed $1,000 during any of the given month. But the GAO found out that thousands of people who were receiving benefits have incomes more than the said income limit.

Also, under the SSA’s policy, after an applicant qualifies for a disability benefit, the recipient is able to enter a trial work period. Meaning, the recipient can return to work while receiving benefits but only within a period of up to nine months. However, the GAO has further discovered that many recipients as well are receiving benefits long after the said nine-month trial work period has ended.

Unfortunately, while a possible budget deficit in the said federal program is being projected in the near future, the government still remains stagnant and fails to exert a little more effort in protecting the same.

Although the said 36,000 overpaid recipients only account for less than 1 percent of the over all disability benefit recipients, such number of improper payments could likely be higher according to GOA. Also, several Los Angeles social security disability lawyers agree with the watchdog that even such small percentage of improper payments still cost tax payers.

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