When a claim is denied by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the claimant has the option of seeking Appeals Council review. A Request for Appeals Council review must be made within 60 days of the receipt of the unfavorable ALJ decision. For the Appeals Council to grant review, the claimant must show that the ALJ …
As part of a campaign to reduce the number of people awarded Social Security disability, the Social Security Administration has changed the rule about how much weight to accord opinion statements from treating doctors. Under the old rule, it was presumed that the treating physician had a special knowledge of the patient, and those opinions …
The White House’s federal budget proposes to reduce federal spending for Social Security disability by 72 billion dollars over the next ten years. In addition, it proposes to cut 600 billion dollars from the Medicaid budget, in addition to the 839 billion dollars in Medicaid cuts proposed by the US House of Representatives. This would …
The proposed 2018 federal budget that the President is sending to Congress cuts the budget for the Department of Health and Human Services by 12.6%, amounting to $16 billion. These budget cuts are likely to cause further downsizing of staff at the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, where disability cases are heard, and the field …
