Usually, claimants looking for Social Security disability benefits will have to appear in person in front of an administrative law judge. These hearings will be within 75 miles of the claimants house, according to the Social Security Administration, but there is now an option to appear at a Social Security hearing via video.
Anyone with a mental disability has a hard enough time in life, but there has been a stigma around the term “mental retardation,” still under use by the Social Security Administration today. Now, the administration is considering changing the phrase for those seeking disabilities seeking benefits to “intellectual disability.”
In an effort to get more veterans benefits out to former military personnel, the Department of Veterans Affairs is in the midst of a lengthy process to roll out the Veterans Benefits Management System. FCW said the Hartford, Connecticut branch is leading the way thus far, which switched over at the end of 2012. The paperless system is used in 18 VA offices but expected to be in all 56 of VA offices by the end of this year, according to The Washington Post.
U.S. veterans who suffered brain injuries while in action may have an easier time getting veterans benefits if a new federal plan goes through. The Department of Veterans Affairs is now taking comments on proposed rule at Regulations.gov, which will end February 8. If this rule were to go into place, veterans suffering from parkinsonism, unprovoked seizures, dementia, depression or diseases of hormone deficiency could have these illnesses accepted as secondary disorders relating to a traumatic brain injury.
