Re: Decision from Social Security

[Guest guest]

Hi Kimber,

Congratulations on your SSDI.

I'm very happy that this road is over for you and that the results were so

good. Just a couple of things as an FYI. Be aware that there may be some

Federal/State taxes due on the " catch up " payment. Of course that wall depend on

the

Calif. laws and your whole income and tax picture. Also be prepared that there

will likely be periodic reviews of your condition. As young as you are there

could end up being several. There's really not much you can do except be sure

your medical files are organized and up to date as that will continue to be

your evidence.

Again, congrats and

My Very Best Wishes for You, Poncho - GA

[Guest guest]

Decision from Social Security

Kimber,

Congrats! What a great early Xmas gift!

Simi Valley

[Guest guest]

> Hi All,

> I've had some really good news. Last week I received a note from my

SSD

Congratulations !!

Always glad to here when someone manages to break through the

bureaucratic bull____ ! and gets what they rightly deserve ! I have

always been baffled by the hoops so many of you good people have had

to jump through to get benefits. I sailed right through the first

time and I believe in many cases I was in better shape than alot of

you at the time. I think alot of it has to do with your GP and the

state you live in when you file.....can't explain it...just a feeling

I have.

Best Wishes and hope it goes well from this point on !

Knox

[Guest guest]

Wellll....gooooolllllyyyy! It's about time! Wonderful news, Kimber. It's good

to

know that someone in the system has some common sense (the Judge), but

too bad that you had to jump through so many hoops to get there!

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI, Intl.

Note: All comments and advice are personal opinion only, and should

not be

should be substituted for a professional medical consultation.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/9/03 9:47:39 PM Eastern Standard Time,

hominid2@... writes:

> I also have to pay my lawyer his fee from my

>

Hi Kimber,

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the state disability too, but that's OK.

Your lawyer should have a maximum fee of $4000.00, if it's more than that you

have an easy road to push back on the fee. There is kind of a totally

recognized maximum fee for SSDI lawyers fees. Your back payment goes back to

almost

the date of your first application. If you applied 12 months ago, you should get

about 11 month benefits. This has to due with actual application date,

payment cycles, and such.

You can easily set up electronic deposit for your normal monthly benefit,

that's real handy to have.

Again, hope all goes well for you

Best wishes, Poncho - GA

[Guest guest]

,

thanks. I'm just so glad I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Definitely makes my Christmas this year.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.

[Guest guest]

thanks. actually, I think a lot of it depends upon the person doing the

review of documents, etc. In my case, my lawyer thinks that my initial

denials had a lot to do with my age (33), since it is considered too

young to have so many problems. But I got it, that's what matters.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.

[Guest guest]

Heidi,

thanks. I'm so glad to have finally gotten the okay on SSD. I was very

worried that my state disability would end before the social security

decision was even made. Thanks for the congrats.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.

[Guest guest]

Poncho,

thanks for the heads-up on the state and federal tax on the SSDI.

Hopefully it won't be much. I also have to pay my lawyer his fee from my

back payment as well as my state disability too. So I'm pretty much

accepted that I might have to actually pay additional money from me

beyond what I'll have to pay from the lump sum of backpay.

I am also aware of the reviews that will be done periodically. It's

just a question of when they decide to do them. I intend to have as

much of it as I can available for them whenever they decide to do my

reviews.

Thankis for the congrats and the heads-up.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.

[Guest guest]

Re: Decision from Social Security

Kimber,

A word of caution. I was awarded my SSDI in July, retroactive from Dec 2002.

I have direct deposit set up with SSDI but even though I have done this, there

has not been one single month that my payments have been sent on the right day

or in the right amount. My two children recieve benefits through me and just

this last month (payment should have been made on 11-28) I did not recieve the

payment. I called SS and was told that they " thought " they had overpaid me so

they had suspeneded my benefits. This is not true of course but now they have

60 days figure it out and send me the payment. In the meantime there will be no

X-mas gifts under the tree for my boys because of this. When I explained this

to the worker at SS and I had her read my entire payment history she agreed that

there was no overpayment and she tried to to force a " critical payment " through

and the computer would not let her. She even spoke to her supervisor, had him

review the payment history and even though he agreed there was no overpayment,

he couldn't do anything to help me. The only thing they could do for me was to

recommend that I call Catholic Charities and ask for help with my childrens

X-mas gifts and my rent that I was going to be short. Kimber, this sort of

thing happens EVERY single month to me. I will not be calling the Catholic

charities because fornutaly my kids have grandparents that are willing to help

out, but SS does not care whom they hurt or when they hurt them. by the way

they claim the problem with my case is because I was receiving State Disability.

They have not been able to get it through thier thick heads that I stopped

recieving that in June 2003. So every month they think they I getting too much

money. They will reduce your benefits by any amount that you recieve from

public or private disability insurance. I think you mentioned that you have

private disability ins. They will subtract that amount from you SSDI payments

every month until you can prove that you do not get it anymore. I am sorry to

make this long but I needed to vent, it's been a very tough year! The main

thing I wanted to tell you is do not count on the money coming in every month on

time because some jackass just might have his head up his ass too far to be able

to do simple math and that jackass might just screw up your benefits right about

the same time the car breaks down, the kids get sick or the rent is due.

Simi Valley

[Guest guest]

Re: Decision from Social Security

They will reduce your benefits by any amount that you recieve from public or

private disability insurance.

,

I could be wrong, but I believe it's the other way around. Most private insurers

insist you apply for SSDI. You usually have to send them a copy of the award or

denial. If it's an award they (the private disability insurer) will deduct your

INITIAL SSDI amount from your payments. You can receive both. Your private

insurance amount will then be fixed but the SSDI will change each year with the

COLA (cost of living adjustment).

Hope this helps

Jill

[Guest guest]

,

thanks for the heads up because I was told by my lawyer that my private

disability insurance wouldn't lower the amount of funds from SSA. I was

told the same thing by Metlife. I was told the exact reverse about State

disability (that they would lower that minus what federal gave me).

Maybe I need to contact SSA directly and get that cleared up.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.

[Guest guest]

Poncho,

the $4000 limit was last year's limit. This year they raised it to the

higher amount I mentioned. Also, I was told that Social Security

wouldn't pay for the first 6 months, so that I'd only get about 5 or 6

months of pay depending upon when i get it.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.

[Guest guest]

Re: Decision from Social Security

Kimber,

I am pretty sure that I have the letters they have sent me telling that they

will deduct any state disabilty from my benefits. I can fax them to you if you

want. If they had not deducted my first payment would have been over 14,000

dollars but since they deducted I only recieved $8,000. Of course by the time I

received that it was all gone to paying bills off that had accrued while waiting

for them to get it together. Did they tell how long before you get your first

check? I think they say they have 60 days to pay you. I hope you get it soon

so you can out and do some Christmas shopping.

Simi Valley

[Guest guest]

Re: Decision from Social Security

Also, I was told that Social Security

wouldn't pay for the first 6 months, so that I'd only get about 5 or 6

months of pay depending upon when i get it.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.

Kimber,

That is correct. My start date of Disability was June 2002 and my benefits

did not become payable until December of 2002. There is a mandatory 6 month

waiting period for SSDI. However if you qaulify for Supplemental Security

Income which is for people whom qualify as low income, it would be retroactive

to the first day of your disability.

Simi Valley, CA

[Guest guest]

,

Oh, I see. Yes, they will take any state disability you get out of your

first lump sum payment for back pay and give it to the state. However,

they will not take state disability out of your monthly payments. They

say they would give me the list of my benefits within the next 60 days,

but no clue as to when I'll get my first payment. Luckily, since I've

been getting state disability, I have enough in my savings account to

cover Christmas shopping and pay my bills. I made enough in my job that

I got a really decent amount of money for state disability. However,

that will end in January when I run out of the money I had put into

state disability. I don't know what I'd have done without the state

disability.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.

[Guest guest]

Re: Decision from Social Security

Kimber,

Actually the way worked for me was, they reduced your monthly benefit amount

by what you received for State Disability. For example if you are supposed get

1,000 a month from SSDI and you are getting 500.00 from State Disability they

reduce your SSDI by 500.00. They will use this formula to figure out your back

pay. Also they will continue to reduce your benefits until you receive your

last payment from State Disability. They will have you send them your last pay

stub from State Disability that will state " all benefits have been exhausted " .

Then the following month they will increase your monthly payment back up to your

maximum benefit amount. Also please remember all the problmes I have had

getting regular payments, so you might want to budget for this just in case.

One of my biggest problems was they kept insisting I was receiving State

Disability still and they kept reducing my benefits.

I hope you see a big fat check really soon!!!!

Simi Valley, CA