Social Security: Congress just doesn't get it

Congressman Thomas M. Reynolds is "representative" (no pun intended) of a lot of congressman. And here's what I mean. The social security administration has a pilot project slated to begin in various areas of New York (Buffalo, Amherst, West Seneca and Niagara Falls). The project calls for closing social security field offices in these areas for up to three hours per day to allow workers to catch up, something they desperately need as increasing workloads and continued declines in the social security administration's workforce continue to make the job of field office workers untenable.

Congressman Reynolds opposes the project because he believes it would unfairly impact senior citizens and the disabled. And, yes, of course, it would. But how does it affect seniors and individuals with disabilities if social security claims reps continue to be buried under piles of work that only get bigger and bigger?

Reynolds points to the fact that SSA received a $451 million funding increase for budget in 2008. But anyone with any clue whatsoever knows that that amount is barely a drop in the budget. Were SSA given a real budget, one that would allow them to replace workers lost to attrition and retirement (which would have the effect of allowing the agency to retain their existing workers--by keeping workloads from continually rising), then the agency would not have to look for ways to jerry rig the system.

But that's not the case. The simple fact of the matter is, you can't keep an agency running and working properly when you don't even take the trouble of replacing workers who quit and retire. And crying about the "unfairness" of a cutback in public hours when the problems within the social security administration "lie" squarely at the feet of Congress (they, after all, fund the social security administration) is nothing less than disingenuous. And a lie.

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Understanding Chronic Pain

In the United States alone, it is estimated that fifty million individuals suffer from chronic pain. Over the past couple of decades, it has become clear to researchers that pain response is no simple matter. In fact, pain is a complex process that involves an individual's psychological makeup i.e. stress, emotions, and mental connections and connotations, as well as injury, pain, and sensation.

The Interdisciplinary Pain Management Clinic in Utah is conducting a study that involves individuals that range from healthy students (over 18) to patients who suffer from chronic pain.

The study measures the brain's pain response by administering small painful electric shocks to volunteers in order to map the brain's response to painful stimuli through brain imaging.

Brain imaging has shown that individuals who experience chronic pain have different brain activity patterns and respond differently to pain than those who do not suffer from chronic pain. The study's goal is to better understand how individuals experience pain, in order to have better and more effective methods of treatment.

Professor Richard Chapman (Interdisplinary Pain Management Clinic) indicated that the data garnered from the study seems to indicate that individuals who have fibromyalgia tolerate a smaller amount of pain than individuals who do not have the disorder.

Of course, in today's society the push seems to be to find that illusive all encompassing pain medication that will cure chronic pain once and for all. Since that does not seem to be in the near future, this clinic and other researchers are researching other alternative techniques such as yoga or meditation as possible treatments to ease chronic pain.

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Does Premature Birth Increase the likelihood of Adult Disability?

The National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden conducted a study that involved about half a million individuals who were born between 1973 and 1979.

Of this control group about four fifths were full term births, about twenty thousand were born moderately pre-term, and three thousand were very pre-term.

The study showed that there was a direct correlation between disability among young adults and how premature they were born. In fact, individuals who were very premature were about four times more likely to be disabled as young adults, moderately pre-term individuals were about fifty percent more likely to have at least one disability, and even those who were slightly premature were about twenty-five percent more likely than a full gestational individual to have a disability. The report goes on the state that individuals who are born pre-term are more likely to live with their parents as adults and that they are less likely to complete secondary education or have a likelihood of lower salaries.

In an age where increasing numbers of premature birth children are surviving to adulthood due to improvements in prenatal and neonatal care, there is an economic motivation for secondary prevention of potential disabling impairments associated with premature birth.

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Anti-seizure meds and the possible link to suicidal ideations

The FDA began investigating whether or not anti-seizure medications increase the risk of suicide in 2005. The FDA analyzed data from nearly two hundred studies involving eleven popular anti-seizure medications including Neurontin, Depakote, Novartis AG's, and Tegretol. In fact, the FDA believes that all anti seizure medications may potentially increase the risk of suicide.

Anti- seizure medications are used to treat a variety of conditions including migraines, epilepsy, nerve pain disorders, and bipolar disorder.

It is safe to say that millions of people are taking these medications every day, and that some may be at an increased risk of suicidal thought or behavior.

The FDA studies tracked about 28000 patients who were taking anti-seizure medications and 16,000 who took placebo medications. There were four suicides among the 44,000 individuals studied and all four were from the group taking anti-seizure medications.

The increased risk of suicide was higher for medicated individuals no matter what their actual diagnosis was, although individuals with epilepsy had the highest overall suicide risk.

The FDA does not suggest that all individuals who are taking medication stop taking their anti-seizure meds. However it does warn physicians to balance the suicide risk with a patient's need for the medication.

Additionally, the FDA also suggested that patients who were taking anti-seizure medications and their families be made aware of the increased risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior so that the patient's moods could be monitored for changes.



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Bipolar Disorder is not given its own listing br> Information on Migraines and links to social security disability information
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SSD (Social Security Disability) Reconsideration - How is it different from the social application

The request for reconsideration is the second stage of the social security disability and SSI disability evaluation system. And it is the first appeal that is available to claimants.

Sadly, however, it is, for the most part, a useless part of the process. Why do I call it useless? Simple. Any time that you have a disability appeal step in which 85 percent of all cases (on average, nationwide) are denied, you have something that is easily defined as "useless".

Why is the request for reconsideration denied so often? There are probably several ways to answer the question. However, the easiest is to state the obvious. The same agency that denies the application for disability is the one that works on the reconsideration.

The reconsideration stage of the process is so flawed that it is routinely under consideration by the social security administration for deletion or replacement (the last attempt to replace the reconsideration appeal was with something called federal review, however this initiative died before it could be implemented nationwide).

Yet, despite all this, reconsideration is an appeal step that every applicant for SSD and SSI benefits should avail themselves of. Why? Because even though a claimant who files a request for reconsideration will probably be denied, this will allow them to proceed to the next stage of the process where they may file a request for a disability hearing. And this is where they will stand, roughly, a better than 50 percent chance of receiving a social security disability award letter



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Lyme Disease may result in very severe symptoms

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in North America. Deer ticks or western black-legged ticks are the most common carrier of Lyme disease, although there may be other ticks that carry the Lyme disease bacteria.

About eighty percent of the individuals in the early stage of Lyme disease experience the characteristic bulls eye rash (which may appear one day or even thirty days after exposure to Lyme disease bacteria), along with fever, sickness, and musculoskeletal pain.

Cardiac or neurological problems may occur in the acute state of Lyme disease, although it is rare.

Late stage Lyme disease is considered to be a chronic condition that is very difficult to treat. Untreated or persistent cases of Lyme disease may result in severe symptoms that may include a condition that is similar to meningitis and encephalitis, myocarditis, arthritis, psychiatric manifestations or neurocognitive problems.

Chronic Lyme disease symptoms are so severe that they often lead to disability or even death for the infected person.

Social Security Disability SSI and Lyme Disease



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Social Security Disability Decision Process

The social security disability process is fairly convoluted, not to mention complex. However, it can be broken down into very distinct and separate aspects.

Essentially, there are two aspects of the social security disability and SSI system that a person who is filing for benefits will have to deal with: The application process and the appeal process.

Obviously, everyone who files for benefits will have to deal with the application process. How many individuals will have to deal with the appeal process? Only thirty percent of all SSDI (social security disability insurance) and SSI claims are approved at the application level. This means that potentially seventy percent of all claimants will have to file appeals.

However, not everyone files appeals. It is distressing to hear, but a large percentage of applicants simply give up on the process after they have been denied on their claims. Should you ever give up? Absolutely not. The fact of the matter is that claimants who file appeals have a statistically significant chance of winning benefits if they pursue a claim as far as the disability hearing level.

The following pages provide information on A) social security disability applications, B) social security disability appeals and C) the social security disability decision process.

Applications

Application for Social Security Disability
How to apply for Disability
Should you apply for disability online?
Does social security deny you the first time you apply for disability?
Reasons to apply for disability
Are you allowed to work while you apply for disability?/a>


The disability process

How long is the social security disability process?
An overview of the social security disability and SSI process
The disability determination process used for social security disability and SSI
Why is the social security disability process so long?


Disability Appeals

The appeals process for social security disability and SSI claims
Levels of the social security disability appeals system
How long do social security disability appeals take?
How do you start a disability appeal?
social security disability award letter
social security disability award letter

Study find no evidence exists that supports a link between autism and vaccine

According to an article written by Carla K. Johnson for the Associated Press, there is no evidence to support a link between thimerosal (ethyl mercury) that was used as a preservative in vaccines prior to 1999 and autism in children.

Autism (a mild form of which is asperger's syndrome) is a mental condition that involves repetitive behaviors, communication, and social problems. Most scientists believe that autism is related to genetics rather than some type of poisoning. Studies in the late 1990's seem to indicate that thimerosal vaccines significantly raised the blood mercury level in infants, and that this blood mercury level may lead to autism.

In recent studies, that amount of mercury found in infant blood samples taken within a few weeks of vacination were at levels one tenth the predicted amount of the late 1990s studies. In fact, current studies indicate that scientists who assumed ethyl mercury had the same health risks as methyl mercury found in fish were incorrect and that ethyl mercury is rather harmless. Consequently, the wholesale removal of the mercury based preservatives from vaccines was unnecessary.

Recent studies concur with the World Health Organization's decision to continue producing vaccines with thimerosal for children around the world. Thimersosal vaccines are more desirable because they are less expensive to produce; consequently they are more readily available for all nations.



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