VA Benefits fo New York Veterans

As I mentioned in my previous post I am working on my veterans disability law site to include state specific VA benefits. Many veterans are familiar with VA pension and VA compensation but may not know that their own states have additional benefits available to veterans who are residents of that state. I have previously finished two pages on VA benefits in New Jersey and I have just completed two more pages on VA benefits in New York. The first page on NY state contains information about lawyers for their VA compensation and pension claims, information about applying for VA compensation benefits in NY, and appealing VA decisions. The second page which is linked to from the first page has information on NYS veteran benefits availble through The New York State Division of Veterans Affairs including nursing homes for veterans and other state programs for vets. After finishing those two pages I realized there was not enough room to add everything I wanted to so I will be adding a third page shortly that will cover the VA health system in NY. After that page is finished I will then start to work on more individual states and specific information on VA benefits for the states. As you can imagine, it will take me quite some time before I am able to make pages for every state but I will eventually get their as I did for individual states on social security disability. The new pages on New York provide a good deal of information for New York veterans about what is available to them along with phone numbers to contact for more information about particular programs. I hope that all vets in NY will find the information I provide to be helpful and hopefully you will find a program or two that you may be eligible to apply for. To see my new page file a link to NY VA benefits. The second page is linked to the first at the bottom of the page.

New Jersey VA compensation lawyer

I represent VA compensation cases all over the country and it recently occurred to me that I have never written that my office is located in New Jersey. Because I do not advertise myself as a New Jersey VA compensation lawyer I realized I had neglected to let NJ veterans know that I am a local VA disability compensation lawyer. I plan to write a page on my VA website about each state and VA compensation law. There are many benefits each state has for veterans who are residents of their particular state. I will start with my home state with a page on VA compensation in NJ. I plan to write this new page on veterans disability in New Jersey in the next few days. I will always handle VA compensation cases across the country as I also do with Social Security disability but I think I should start with my home state and let the veterans of New Jersey know of the benefits that are available to them in my own state first. I will then systematically add pages to my veterans disability website as time goes on to help veteran from all states know of additional benefits their states may offer to them in addition to VA compensation for the disabled veteran. I think all veterans will find my new pages informative and helpful which has always been my goal. After my NJ VA compensation page is finished I will link this post to it. I just added the link to my new page for information for any NJ veterans reading this. I will now start to work on the other individual states and announce them on this blog as they become available. My goal is to eventually have my VA disability website as expansive and informative as my Social Security disability website.

VA Individual Unemployability Claims, TDIU, IU

If a veteran can not perform gainful employment due to his or her service connected disabilities the the veteran can receive disability benefits at the rate of 100% even if the service connected disability or disabilities does not add up to 100%. A veteran can do this by applying for total disability based on individual unemployability. To be eligible for this type of claim a veteran in most cases would have to have one service connected disability rated at 60% or higher or if there is more than one disability then at least one disability must be rated at 40% and the additional disabilities must bring the total percentage to 70%. If a veteran does not meet these requirements they may still make a claim for IU based on extra schedular considerations. This means that even though they do not meet the rating criteria for IU if the veterans "picture is so exceptional or unusual as to reasonably raise the issue of extraschedular consideration."

The VA states that: "Total disability rating may be assigned, where the schedular rating is less than total, when the disabled person is, in the judgement of the rating agency, unable to secure or follow a substantial gainful occupation as a result of service connected disabilities." What this exactly means is less than clear. There are some things you can do to help yourself get IU. If you are found disabled by Social Security this can be helpful evidence if you were found disabled based on your service connected disabilities. However, the VA is not required to follow the SSA decision. You may also want to seek the assistance of a lawyer. Many times vocational expert evidence can help in showing you are not employable. For more information on VA individual unemployability visit my website on VA disability law.

I have recently started another Social Security disability website.

I write quite a bit on the Internet and recently started a new website on Social Security disability. It does not have nearly as much information as my ultimate disability guide website but I am in the early stages of developing it. I decided to start a new website because although my main informational website is full of great information and tips on getting your SSD and SSI disability benefits I wanted to try some new things without disrupting my current informational website which many people are already accustomed to using. Hopefully, one day it will be as comprehensive as the ultimate disability guide but more importantly by working on my website I am hoping to add additional helpful features to my other websites. I guess you could call it my experimental website. It will include good content on Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income and will hopefully, at the same time, be a learning tool for me to see how I can make my other websites better in the future. If you would like to see my new Social Security disability website feel free to have a look and any comments about the site are welcome. The information on that site is very general and will help explain the basics of the Social Security Disability System. If you are looking to do more detailed research then I recommend my Ultimate Disability Guide website. I will also continue to work on my website devoted to VA disability compensation. In the near future, I will be adding significant content to my veterans disability website and eventually it is my plan for it to be as comprehensive and informative as can be. There is already a significant amount of information on VA law in regards to VA compensation and pension. A list of my websites and other writings on the web can be found in the resource page on my Ultimate Disability Guide Website. So whether you are applying for SSDI, SSI or VA compensation you should be able to find a significant amount of information on all of the subjects on my various websites. I hope you find this information useful. As always I wish you luck with your claims and remember learning as much as you can about the type of disability benefits you are trying to get is extremely important in giving yourself the best chance to win.

What about Social Security?

The big debate today is about what to do about medical coverage in this country. This is an extremely important issue, but what concerns me is that politicians still seem to be avoiding the fact that the Social Security system is running out of money to pay benefits. For years politicians have known that the Social Security system, which most workers pay into and rely on for retirement or if they become disabled, is running out of money.
In these rough economic times more people are applying for Social Security disability benefits. However, there does not appear to be any effort being put into solving the problem of the dwindling Social Security funds used to pay these benefits and retirement benefits. Although some may argue that medical coverage is the important issue of our time and needs to be dealt with it is not the only issue. I agree that medical coverage for all Americans is important however, perhaps the bigger issue that appears to be ignored is the Social Security system. Most people who work pay Social Security taxes on every paycheck with the understanding that they will have money for retirement or if they unfortunately become disabled they will be able to collect this money to at least meet their basic needs.
If Social Security runs out of money and cannot pay these benefits just imagine the effect it would have on every single American. This is not a political article on the medical coverage debate. The purpose of this article is to make people aware that we must not forget the Social Security trust fund and the importance of it when other issues are grabbing the headlines.

Things you can do on the Social Security Administration website.

I answer many e-mails each day. In this post I am going to try and answer some of the more common questions I get about how to do certain things as it relates to a Social Security Disability claim. I will post the question and then give you a link to the page on the Social Security Administration website where you can get your answer or handle the task you are looking to do. One question that is frequently asked is how do I apply for Social Security disability benefits. You can apply online at http://www.ssa.gov/applyfordisability/ . Another question I get is how do I get a copy of my earnings statement that shows if you have enough work credits to qualify for disability. You can get this information at the following link http://www.ssa.gov/mystatement/ . Another question I get is, how can you check the status of your application. You can check the status of your application here https://secure.ssa.gov/apps6z/IAPS/applicationStatus . I am also frequently asked how do I find my local SSA office and phone number. You can get this information at this link https://secure.ssa.gov/apps6z/FOLO/fo001.jsp . Sometimes people ask me how do they get a new Social Security card and you can find this information at http://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/ . If you think your Social Security number was stolen and is being used by somebody else you can find information on what you can do at this link http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10064.html . Many of you have questions about supplemental security income also known as SSI and the following link can answer many of your questions http://www.ssa.gov/pgm/links_ssi.htm . All of the above links are from the SSA website. You can find many other answers you are looking for at this website and the homepage is http://www.ssa.gov/ . What you will not find on the Social Security website is information and tips on how to win your SSDI or SSI claim. To find this information you can visit my website on Social Security Disability. On my website, you will find information on how to apply for SSD and SSI. I also provide valuable tips and information about disability and how to give yourself the best chance to win. You will also find pages on specific medical conditions and how they are handled by Social Security. If there is any questions you cannot find the answer to on my website you will also find a way to contact me to ask your specific questions. If you decide you want representation you will also find on my website a way to contact me to represent you or I can also help you find a local lawyer if you prefer. I hope you found the links on this page helpful and know if you visit my website you will find a lot of useful information for your disability claim.

SSA Will Open New Call Center

Commissioner Astrue has announced on June 22, 2009 that Social Security will be opening a new phone center in Jackson, Tennessee. It has been 10 years since Social Security has opened a new call center. These call centers handle all of the calls that come in on SSA's toll-free number. The toll-free number is 1-800-772-1213. Anyone who has ever called this number looking for Social Security disability information knows how long it can take to get a hold of somebody to answer their questions about Social Security disability or other Social Security related questions. SSA presently has 35 of these call centers around the country. Clearly, Commissioner Astrue is spending a great deal of time and money on improving services within the Social Security administration. The baby boomer population and economic downturn have probably caused an increase in the number of calls coming into these call centers, so the opening of this new call center should help deal with that increase. My only concern is that they do not open the call center before they have a sufficiently trained staff knowledgeable in Social Security law. I say this because no information, or or having to wait longer for information, is better than wrong information. As is the case with the opening of any new operation, I am sure there will be some bumps in the road but overall it should be a positive step in getting the information to those who need it about Social Security and its benefits. The press release does not mention when this new call center will open. To see the full press release go to http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/NewTSC-pr.html . And for more Social Security disability information visit my website.