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Mindy Shrader, EBS in Sauk County, recently helped a client whose spouse is in a nursing home request an additional income allocation at a fair hearing. Although the client is still working, she and her husband have high monthly expenses. Mindy helped the client put together a budget that showed how much additional income she would need in order to afford her living expenses. The ALJ found the budget reasonable and allocated the additional money the client requested.
9/29/2023
Story #113
Jessica Flores, EBS in Door County, helped a gentleman who was brought from the other side of the state and dropped off in Door County with a few bags of possessions and nowhere to go. Jessica worked with the I&A staff at her ADRC to get him find employment and a place to stay. She also helped get him all the benefits for which he qualified, and she helped him get set up with a new representative payee for his SSDI benefit. However, his SSDI benefit was reduced one month which left him without enough money to pay his rent. Jessica worked with the Veteran Outreach and Recovery Program and hosted the VA staff to come meet the client in her office. They were able to get him funding so he was not kicked out of his short-term residence. The VA was also able to help him move to one of their Housing & Recovery transitional houses where they will work to get him into HUD-VASH for stable ongoing housing, transportation to doctor appointments, meals, and recovery support (which they predicted would cost him $0). They will also work to get him a non-service-related pension so he will see a good increase to his income.
7/27/2023
Story #94
Mindy Shrader, EBS in Sauk County, helped a client do a significant amount of detective work to prove that she was eligible for receiving benefits related to her ex-spouse. The client initially came to see Mindy because she was worried that she couldn't afford her increased rent. After talking to the client, Mindy learned that the client might be eligible for benefits on her ex-husband's record. Unfortunately, the client had been married in another country before moving to the United States, and the divorce had taken place in another state. The client provided all the records she had about her marriage, which were not in English, and Mindy helped her bring those to SSA. In addition, Mindy helped the client request a copy of her divorce judgment from the other state to send to SSA. Unfortunately, SSA was unable to accept the marriage documents because the agency is prohibited from accepting documents from that country. However, the client was able to connect Mindy with an old friend who had witnessed the wedding and was willing to write a letter to SSA verifying when the wedding had taken place. SSA finally approved the client's application for benefits, which increased the client's total monthly benefit amount by over $1,200 and got her over $17,000 in back pay!
Monetary Impact = $17,000
6/29/2023
Story #90
In July, Megan Girardy, EBS in Jackson County, met with a man who had recently entered into home hospice after surviving four years with stage four prostate cancer. They discussed the process of applying for disability benefits and began filing for early retirement benefits. The local SSA field office representative proved very helpful and began the process of filing for survivor benefits and designating the client's wife as representative payee for their two children. Megan helped the client complete a compassionate allowance request in August. At each visit along the way, they spent time discussing family, going through old photos, sharing hunting stories, and learning about his family's history. When the client passed away in late October, Megan was invited by the family to come to their home to assist with the notification process. After she arrived, his wife showed Megan that she had received notice that benefits were approved with a back payment award of more than $18,000, which the family later used to cover funeral expenses. Megan received a hand-written thank you note with the client's signature, an invitation to his celebration of life, and an open pass to his hunting cabin to continue sharing stories with his family.
Monetary Impact = $18,000
10/31/2022
Story #43
Ashley Greene, EBS in Crawford County, recently helped a client regain access to her online bank account so that the client could continue to receive her SSI benefits. The client lost her debit card several months before, and when she tried to request a replacement card online, she accidentally created a second account. Thinking that this could be fraud, the bank put a hold on her account and asked her to send copies of a state ID card and Social Security card so they could verify her identity. Unfortunately, the client had also lost her Social Security card. To make matters worse, SSA sent the client a letter saying that they stopped her SSI benefits because her most recent benefit check had been returned. This left her with no income and no access to any of the money in her bank account. The client set up a new account at a local bank, but SSA could not change her direct deposit information without confirmation of her old bank account routing number. Ashley helped the client set up a MySSA account so that she could request a new Social Security card. That card arrived within a week, and Ashley helped the client send a copy to the online bank. Although customer service said they would reset her account, that still wasn't resolved a month later. Ashley helped the client send additional documentation to prove her identity, and after meeting with the client four times in one week in order to work on this, the client finally regained access to her account. This meant that the client could change her direct deposit information with SSA, and SSA deposited over $3,000 in SSI backpay the following week. Ashley also helped the client file complaints about the online bank with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions.
Monetary Impact = $3,000
11/30/2022
Story #40
Pam Fuchs, EBS in Sauk County, recently helped a client reinstate her SSDI benefits. For some reason, SSA had stopped this client's benefits in the middle of a work review because she had worked over the SGA limit in two months during her extended period of eligibility (EPE). However, the client's EPE had not ended. The client tried for several months to get an explanation from SSA, but the agency would only tell her that she had to request an ALJ hearing. Pam helped the client request an ALJ hearing, and shortly after that, SSA reopened the work review. The client soon received a check for the benefits she was owed for the months her benefits were stopped, and her regular monthly benefits started up again. The client was thrilled that this was all resolved without having to wait for an ALJ hearing.
6/30/2022
Story #16
Joanne Welsh, EBS in Richland County, helped a client successfully appeal an SSI overpayment. The client had received an inheritance many years ago, which caused her to lose SSI eligibility at that time. Over time, the client gradually spent the inheritance on her living expenses. When that money was gone, she reapplied for SSI. Although she began receiving benefits, SSA later decided that she still had the money from the inheritance, which put her over the asset limit. Joanne helped the client prepare a summary of how she had spent the money over several years and request reconsideration. SSA agreed that the client had not been over the asset limit when she reapplied for SSI, reinstated her benefits, and determined that she was owed over $1,600 in backpay for the months her benefits were stopped after she received the overpayment notice.
Monetary Impact = $1,600
6/30/2022
Story #15