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CarolChris (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 11, 2005 - 12:40 pm: | 
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Hello Mr. McChesney, I will be splitting this question into three sections:
1.)
I have been collecting SSD benefits now for four years, based on PTSD and a back held together by a good surgeon and sheer willpower ;) My claim was approved very quickly - in six weeks; was reviewed and reapproved once around the time I turned 50. I have been told that my claim may - or may not - be reviewed in the future: which I'm assuming is one step away from "Permanent" . . .Although the last position I held would be classified as "clerical" - I was an SSD / medical malpractice paralegal - the years that SSA looked at involved jobs that required a great deal of physical activity as well as education. For instance, I worked for a number of years as a staff biologist at a large marine mammal research facility: getting a sea lion to "open wide" at the bottom of an icy pool, midwinter in Connecticut is pretty physically demanding. |
CarolChris (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 11, 2005 - 12:43 pm: |
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2)
The nice lady down at the SSA office suggested I apply to a vocational rehabilitation program - but when I explained my educational background, her supervisor said there wasn't anything they could teach me. So. I want to finish law school - or start over if I have to - it has been a long time. I wouldn't expect to be paid cash benefits - full time law school is demanding, I know. But there is just no way I can go without medical insurance for any length of time - if only because I take upwards of $1000 worth of prescription meds every month. (Connecticut has its own prescription coverage for SSD recipients meeting certain income guidelines). |
CarolChris (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 11, 2005 - 12:44 pm: |
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3.
I would think the government would be happy to stop handing me cash every month - is there any way to persuade them that it would be in everyone's best interest if they continued Medicare while I'm in school? I am very leery of opening any dialogue about this until I know the proper direction in which to pursue it. I've already proven I can't get a job - the last thing I need is for Uncle Sam to decide that finishing law school is paramount to full time gainful employment, even at 53! Thanks for any help you can offer.
Carol |
Paul McChesney (Admin)
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 1366
Registered: 5-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 02, 2005 - 5:18 pm: |
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CarolChris:
You raise, for the first time, a subject that is both tricky and important. Here is the bottom line: Whatever you do in life involves a risk, and sometimes both of two choices involve a large risk. That is the case here. To sit on your sofa and draw disability involves the risk, large for some, that your benefits will be terminated and you will be cast into the workforce unready and unable. But to go to school full time involves the risk that the Administration will attempt to terminate your benefits because you are engaging in worklike activity, which suggests that you can work. What to do?
1. Don't do anything without sitting down with a good lawyer. What I tell you here is not enough to answer the question in a specific person's case. If you are paranoid, find one who is ready to file an injunction if you are terminated without a hearing. This is something the Commissioner used to do, but I don't believe he does it now. There are some old cases where attorneys got injunctions against this.
2. Select some course of education, or any other vocational training, that "will significantly increase the likelihood that you will not have to return to the disability benefit rolls" if you are ever able to return to work. In other words, plan to become someone who it is hard to disable, because demand for your services will be high; for example, nursing homes are so desperate for RN's that if your heart is beating they will prop you in a corner, put your license on the wall, and pay you for it. Or plan to become someone who is hard to disable because her job does not call for the functions that limit you; for example, a friend of mine, a lawyer, was paralyzed from the neck down. He hired someone to turn the pages for him and push him around, and he read and dictated and talked and got paid for it.
3. Come up with a plan to pay for it. Pell Grant, student loans, state loans, scholarships, vocational rehabilitation.
4. Go down to Vocational Rehabilitation and spread your plan out and say to them: Please sponsor me. It will not cost you a penny; I only want to have an open file so I can come under the terms of 20 CFR §404.316(c)(1). Make sure you get sponsored before you take the next step!!
5. Get good documentation from your teachers and doctors that you cannot persist at real work, that is, that you are having to take breaks and get other special accommodations.
6. Start school.
7. If the Administration attempts to terminate your check without a hearing, which they used to do, you need to go to a lawyer and ask for an injunction.
8. If they take you to a hearing on the question, and you have managed to get Vocational Rehabilitation sponsorship, they cannot terminate you so long as you have some significant disability, even if you are not totally disabled and there is now some work you can do, provided that you can prove that the education you are undergoing will "significantly increase the likelihood that you will not have to return to the disability benefit rolls."
9. Sometimes you might be able to show that the educational process does not prove you can work. Affidavits from your professors are crucial here. Show how intermittent your school attendance is; most schools only require a few hours a day when you have to be in class, and the rest of your work can be done any time; there are not many jobs like that.
404.1597 After we make a determination that you are not now disabled. [
This is some of the underlying law:
20 CFR § 404.316 When entitlement to disability benefits begins and ends.
. . . .
(c)(1) Your benefits, and those of your dependents, may be continued after your impairment is no longer disabling if--
(i) Your disability did not end before December 1980, the effective date of this provision of the law;
(ii) You are participating in an appropriate program of vocational rehabilitation, that is, one that has been approved under a State plan approved under Title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and which meets the requirements outlined in 34 CFR Part 361 for a rehabilitation program;
(iii) You began the program before your disability ended; and
(iv) We have determined that your completion of the program, or your continuation in the program for a specified period of time, will significantly increase the likelihood that you will not have to return to the disability benefit rolls.
Example: While under a disability from a severe back impairment, "A" begins a vocational rehabilitation program under the direction of a State vocational rehabilitation agency with a vocational goal of jewelry repairman, "A" is 50 years old, has a high school education, and worked as a route salesman for a bread company for 6 years before becoming disabled. Before "A" completes his training, his disability status is reviewed and a determination is made that he is able to do light work. Considering his age, education and work experience, "A" is no longer disabled. However, if "A" is able to work as a jewelry repairman, he will be considered able to engage in substantial gainful activity even if he can do only sedentary work. Therefore, it is determined that "A's" completion of the vocational rehabilitation program will significantly increase the likelihood that he will be permanently removed from the disability rolls. "A" will continue to receive payments until he completes or stops his program, or until it is determined that continued participation will no longer significantly increase the likelihood of permanent removal from the disability rolls.
(2) Your benefits generally will be stopped with the month--
(i) You complete the program;
(ii) You stop participating in the program for any reason; or
(iii) We determine that your continuing participation in the program will no longer significantly increase the likelihood that you will be permanently removed from the disability benefit rolls.
See also 20 CFR § 416.1338(a)(2), SS Acquiescence Rulings AR 86-4(3) and AR 86-5(9); FRAZIER V. CHATER, 903 F.Supp. 1030, 1037, 49 Soc.Sec.Rep.Ser. 516, 1995 WL 669658 (N.D.Tex.,1995.); CHRISTIAN V. HECKLER, 573 F.Supp. 671, 3 Soc.Sec.Rep.Ser. 579 (D.C.Ark.,1983.); DION V. HECKLER, 582 F.Supp. 872, 4 Soc.Sec.Rep.Ser. 860, 873-874(D.Mass.,1984)
(Message edited by admin on August 03, 2005) |
Henry G. (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 23, 2006 - 8:37 pm: |
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Educating oneself out of disability sounds great, but not always feasible. In the case of mental impairments, many people could take 6 units at a time at a community college, and eventually earn an Associate degree/certificate in a vocational-oriented program, but sitting through part-time classes and working 8 hour days consistently are two different things. Unfortunately, the SSA sees things in black and white and would think you are "more employable"---even though your mental condition has not improved. But your condition has not improved according to MIRS---but has it if you can now attend school part-time? But what if you always had been able to attend school part-time but were not able to work full-time? I mean, passing accounting classes does not mean one could work as an accountant. |
Henry G. (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 23, 2006 - 8:38 pm: |
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For instance, what if you forget the information? What if you cheat in those classes? Or you have someone take the exam for you in your name? Or what if you have a corrupt teacher who gives you a "A" because s/he likes you? Or makes a clerical error on the grade sheet in your favor? Does the SSA take those factors into account? Apparently not. |
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