Episode 9

In a departure from my practice of answering blog visitor questions, in this episode I am presenting an interview I recently conducted with attorney John Hogan, who represents Social Security disability lawyers in the 11th Circuit on the board of NOSSCR (National Organization of Social Security Claimant's Representatives). The issues that John and I discuss are timely in that on August 1, 2006 Social Security is launching a new disability determination process. This new process will be introduced in a few northeastern States this year, with the rest of the country being added year by year over the next seven years. John explains how the new process works, NOSSCR's role in advocating for both claimants and representatives and we both discuss our concerns about whether SSA can successfully make some of the big changes that are being planned. The interview runs about 27 minutes – which is a bit longer than my normal ssdRadio installment, but I felt that presenting this interview in its entirety made more sense than breaking it up into two shorter installments. If you are either a claimant or a claimant's rep and you have experience with or thoughts about this new adjudication process, please let me hear from you.

Technorati Tags: John Hogan, Social Security disability, new disability process, elimination of reconsideration, federal reviewing officers