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If you're looking into Supplemental Security Income, we'll tell you how much you could get on a monthly basis for your payment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you're thinking about applying for Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, you'll want to know some things about the program ahead of time. For instance, the maximum amount you can receive each month in your SSI check and what can cause you to receive less. The SSI program is funded by the Treasury Department, and payments are issued by the Social Security Administration to those with limited income and resources. The average monthly SSI payment is around...

Almost 5,000 pilots have been investigated for failing to disclose receiving disability benefits, which could bar them from the cockpit. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed to The Washington Post on Sunday that 4,800 pilots had been investigated. Of those, 600 are licensed to fly passenger planes. The rest fly cargo or corporate clients. Half the cases have been closed, said FAA spokesman Matthew Lehner. Experts said the inquiry has exposed long-standing vulnerabilities in the FAA's medical system for screening pilots, and that the sheer number of unreported health problems presents a risk to aviation safety. Pilots must pass regular...

The Social Security Disability Insurance system was established as a social safety net program for workers who lose the physical or mental ability to work at a sustainable gainful activity level. It has become so much more than that. But a new rule from the Social Security Administration will improve the integrity and purpose of the Disability Insurance system. The inability to communicate in English does not render someone unable to perform work, but under the Disability Insurance program’s qualification standards, it does make it easier for them to receive benefits.

The number of Americans seeking Social Security disability benefits is plunging, a startling reversal of a decades-old trend that threatened the program’s solvency. It is the latest evidence of a stronger economy pulling people back into the job market or preventing workers from being sidelined in the first place. The drop is so significant that the agency has revised its estimates of how long the program will continue to be financially secure. This month, the government announced that the program would not run out of money until 2032, four years later than its previous estimate last year. Two years ago,...

Aging population is boosting the costs of Social Security and Medicare as growth projections ease The Social Security program’s costs will exceed its income this year for the first time since 1982, forcing the program to dip into its nearly $3 trillion trust fund to cover benefits. This is three years sooner than expected a year ago, partly due to lower economic growth projections, according to the latest annual report the trustees of Social Security and Medicare released Tuesday. The program’s income comes from tax revenue and interest from its trust fund. The trust fund will be depleted in 2034...

CORONA, Calif.—Roberta Gordon never thought she’d still be alive at age 76. She definitely didn’t think she’d still be working. But every Saturday, she goes down to the local grocery store and hands out samples, earning $50 a day, because she needs the money. “I’m a working woman again,” she told me, in the common room of the senior apartment complex where she now lives, here in California’s Inland Empire. Gordon has worked dozens of odd jobs throughout her life—as a house cleaner, a home health aide, a telemarketer, a librarian, a fundraiser—but at many times in her life, she...

An eastern Kentucky disability lawyer scheduled to be sentenced next month for defrauding the government of nearly $600 million has disappeared, the FBI said. Eric Conn pleaded guilty in March to stealing from the federal government and bribing a judge. He was scheduled to be sentenced next month and had been ordered to pay the government tens of millions of dollars. But Saturday, the FBI said Conn removed his electronic monitoring device, violating the conditions of his bond and prompting the U.S. District Court to issue a warrant for his arrest. David Habich, general counsel for the FBI’s Louisville office,...

The number of people receiving benefits from the Social Security Administration topped 60,000,000 for the first time at the beginning of 2016. ... The total number of beneficiaries includes retired workers and their dependents, survivors of deceased workers, and disabled workers and their dependents. ... In February, there were 151,074,000 people employed in either full or part-time jobs in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics ... There were 123,206,000 people employed full-time in February, according to BLS’s seasonally adjusted numbers. That equals approximately 2.05 full-time workers per each beneficiary of the Social Security Administration. ... The...

A government audit finds that the Social Security Disability Insurance program paid out $16.8 billion in disability benefits over the past decade to about four million people who either were working, made too much money, were in prison, were dead, weren't eligible or were no longer physically or mentally disabled.

Lawyers have raked in more than $7.5 billion in fees from the federal Disability Insurance program since 2009, according to a Manhattan Institute report issued Friday. And that money has come directly out of the pockets of workers through the Social Security payroll tax.

Social Security helps not only retirees but also roughly 9 million of people suffering from disabilities. Unfortunately, the trust fund that covers disability payments is in even worse financial condition than the trust fund that covers retirement benefits. What will happen when the disability program's trust fund runs out? In the following video, Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool's director of investment planning, talks about the two Social Security trust funds, noting that the latest estimates give the retirement trust fund about 20 more years before it runs out of money, but the disability trust fund is slated to be used...

The total number of Americans now on the Social Security Disability Insurance program topped 11 million in May, a record high and an increase of 18% since January 2009, according to new data from the Social Security administration, furthering a trend that will have severe economic and budget consequences. More than 5.2 million workers have enrolled in the program since President Obama took office, and enrollment is climbing faster under Obama than at any time in the program's history. An average 81,000 workers joined the Social Security Disability Program each month during Obama's years. Under President Bush, by contrast, monthly...

The most efficient way to destroy a society is to fragment it and turn the pieces against each other. Language plays a big part in getting America out of the way so that a liberal utopia can be constructed in its place. Here is one way our rulers are using our money to encourage foreign colonists not to learn English: The inability to speak English is now considered a determining factor to receive federal disability benefits. Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) sent a letter obtained exclusively by the Free Beacon to Acting Commissioner of...

The Social Security Administration (SSA) issued an estimated $1 million in improper payments between 2000 and 2010 to people who were in prison, according to an Office of Inspector General (OIG) Report entitled Special Disability Workload Payments Made to Incarcerated Beneficiaries. The investigation over the payments began after the SSA discovered certain beneficiaries were not receiving their disability insurance (DI) checks. As the report states, “Studies SSA conducted identified SSI recipients who had their entitlement based on applications before January 1, 2000, and appeared to be insured for, but were not receiving, DI benefits. The Agency categorized these individuals as...

These days, being seen as a victim can be useful. You immediately claim the moral high ground. Some people want to help you. Lawyers and politicians brag that they force others to help you. This turns some people into whiners with little sense of responsibility. Joe Biden's niece was arrested recently for throwing a punch at a cop. The New York Post says she's addicted to alcohol and pills, but rather than take responsibility for her actions, she blamed them on the "pressure she faces" because her uncle is vice president. Give me a break. America was founded by people...

A good report from 60 minutes on how the federal disability system is being gamed at mega taxpayer expense: Steve Kroft reports on the alarming state of the federal disability program, which has exploded in size in the last six years and could become the first federal benefits program to run out of money.

Tina Kitchel stirred awake in Spring Valley Hospital with a tube in her mouth and her arms riddled with needle marks from an IV. Her husband stood at her bedside, relieved to see her awaken. She stared back at him like he was a stranger in a crowd. There was so much she didn’t know. Nearly two weeks prior, she was in the third trimester of pregnancy — their second child. A complication stopped her heart for 27 minutes. Doctors performed an emergency cesarean section in the hallway of the hospital to rescue her child — and bring her back...

Recipients of federal disability checks often admit that they are capable of working but cannot or will not find a job, that those closest to them tell them they should be working, and that working to get off the disability rolls is not among their goals. More baffling, most have never received significant medical treatment and not seen a doctor about their condition in the last year, even though medical problems are the official reason they don't work. Those who acknowledge they're on disability because they can't find a job say they make little effort to find one, according to...

The number of Americans receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) more-than doubled over the past two decades, from 5.2 million to 11.7 million by the end of 2011. The number of residents receiving disability insurance from the Social Security Administration (SSA) varies from state to state. In West Virginia, close to one in every 10 people aged 18 to 64 was receiving SSDI benefits from the federal government, more than three times the rate in states like Utah and Alaska.Click here to see the states with the most Americans on disabilityThe proportion of eligible workers applying for disability benefits also...

Almost as many people signed up with the federal government's permanent worker disability program as got jobs in March, according to two sets of government data, continuing a troubling trend throughout the Obama recovery. Last month, 81,804 workers left the workforce to join the Social Security Disability Insurance program. So far this year, nearly a quarter million workers have joined the program. Over the past four years, 4 million left the workforce to go on disability. Even after accounting for those who dropped out of the program because of death or retirement, the ranks of the disabled have shot up...