Many people, particularly those fairly close to retirement, have a basic understanding of what Social Security is. However, there are number of services the program provides that are less known. An AARP article, 8 Things You Didn’t Know Social Security Could Do for You has some excellent information. Contact our Wausau WI retirement team today to learn more.
Expedited Process Times
In 2024, the average processing time for a Social Security disability claim was eight months for just the initial application. It can take several more months, perhaps even years, to appeal a claim that’s been denied. Clearly, this kind of wait time can be burdensome for those with severe or worsening medical conditions.
But the Social Security Administration’s Compassionate Allowances program has a list of nearly 300 serious medical conditions that meet the threshold for disability. Applications for Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income that include conditions from that list are automatically fast tracked and can sometimes be approved in just days.
Representative Payee Program
Social Security’s representative payee program is designed for those who can’t manage their own payment, such as those with cognitive disorders, developmental disability, or who are young children. In these cases, the Social Security Administration can appoint someone to serve as a beneficiary representative payee.
As of late 2022, about 4.8 million people — or about 7.2% of all Social Security recipients — had a representative payee. Serving as a representative payee requires constant diligence because the Social Security Administration holds that person responsible for how the funds are used and they’re forbidden from using any proceeds for their own use.
Help With Drug Costs
Social Security may also be able to help you with Medicare drug costs. Extra Help is a joint program run by the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, that’s designed to cut prescription drug costs for low-income Medicare recipients by up to thousands of dollars a year.
The program is open to all Social Security recipients and the 2025 income limit is $22,590 for individuals and $30,660 for married couples.
Better Understanding
The Social Security Administration also provides translation and interpretation services for recipients who speak little or no English. Interpreter services are free of charge to anyone who requests them or shows a need for that assistance.
The Social Security Administration has translation services available in more than a dozen languages. To request an interpreter, call 800-772-1213. Social Security-related materials are also provided in numerous languages on the administration’s website, ssa.gov.
International Agreements
A lot of Americans work in foreign countries just as many people from other countries work here in the United States. People in either situation may be facing dual payroll taxes, which in this case simply means paying into two different countries’ retirement systems out of the same salary pool.
To provide relief, the Social Security Administration has hammered out formal agreements with 30 countries that have similar programs. These agreements typically allow workers to pay their payroll taxes to just one country’s retirement system at a time.
Additionally, they allow workers who are covered by this agreement to pool the credits they’ve earned in more than one nation to better ensure they qualify for benefits in the country where they intend to claim them.