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We Are Here to Help You Realize Your Dream

January 17, 2017 • By

Reading Time: 2 Minutes

Last Updated: January 17, 2017

man and woman on laptopJanuary 16 was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day — a national holiday and a day of remembrance. Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated his life to creating and fostering equal rights for African Americans, and he died during his efforts to make his dream a reality.

Many people commemorate this holiday by serving their community and giving to others who may be less fortunate. In many ways, this is what Social Security does every day, all year long.

A great way to be of service to others is to help someone you know who may need assistance applying for Social Security, Medicare, or Extra Help with Medicare prescription drug costs. This is easy to do at www.socialsecurity.gov.

Some people who need these benefits may not be comfortable with computers or may not even know applying online is an option.  But now, it’s easier than ever to apply for such benefits from the convenience of a home computer at www.socialsecurity.gov.

For example, it’s easy to apply for retirement benefits at www.socialsecurity.gov/applyonline. It can take as little as 15 minutes from start to finish.  Once the application is electronically submitted, in most cases, there is nothing more to do.

It’s even easier to apply for Medicare, for people who do not plan to begin their Social Security retirement payments yet but who do want Medicare coverage. The application takes about 10 minutes and you can find it at www.socialsecurity.gov/medicareonly.

People who already have Medicare coverage, but who need help meeting prescription drug costs, can apply for Extra Help online at www.socialsecurity.gov/extrahelp.

Whether you spent the holiday taking a trip to see the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C. or read or listened to a recording of his legendary I Have a Dream speech, we encourage you to use this holiday as a reminder to lend to hand to someone who can use your help. Lead them to www.socialsecurity.gov. It may be easy for you, but it may help someone you love realize their own dreams.

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About the Author

Doug Walker, Deputy Commissioner, Communications

Deputy Commissioner, Office of Communications

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Comments

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  2. Gregory G.

    Thank y’all for listening ?? help get this message through please

  3. Gregory G.

    I have been trying to get disability for awhile now been living out of suitcase for awhile wife divorced. ME kick me out of the house it’s been hard for me I’ve bummed from about everybody I know I geta food card the from department of human services here in WV. Have know money coming in it’s been hard I need help I’m just about bummed out when I do get disability I will owe it all out from Baring of my friends my knees are bad and the left knee and hip need replaced my right knee already been replaced I’m getting shots in knees and hip to try to put the Sergeys off my backs been hurt for so long it still gives me bad pain I’m 60 and knead help I have filed and my claim is just sitting on a desk in Charleston WV please help me .

    • R.F.

      Unfortunately, but for security reasons, we do not have access to personal records in this blog, Gregory. Please continue working with your local office. You can request to speak with the manager to see how we can help to expedite resolution of your situation.
      If you are unable to visit the local office, you can call our toll free number at 1-800-772-1213, representatives are available Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Generally, you will have a shorter wait time if you call later during the day or later in the week.
      To see if you are eligible to receive social services or other benefits from the state in which you live while you wait for a medical determination, contact your local social services office. Or you can visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services web page for more information. Thanks!

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  5. Roger B.

    Is there anyone who can help with the local office who is handling my appeal for supplemental security income? It has been since July since I appealed their denial
    and still they want more form me and I don’t know what else I can do. It is no November and I am still being denied despite I have given them everything they wanted. I have six hundred dollars and if I can’t get any help I will lose everything I have.

  6. Fred J.

    SSA’s has an apparent lack of any quality control procedures.

    I applied for Medicare. My application was straightforward-no issues. It was approved, I found out after 3 months, in 4 days. However, after the approval, it was mysteriously lost. As a result I never received an award letter or ID. The online info site showed the application as “in process.” Numerous calls to the toll-free number had me speaking with call center employees who read me what the website said, and offered no real information. Furthermore, they refused any suggestion that it would be appropriate to investigate. They just wanted to get me off the phone.

    I got a break when one, and only one, call center staffer was persuaded to give me the name of the analyst and the office of where the application was originally routed. I managed to get that employee’s phone number through another automated system, with another toll-free number. I called her. Her voicemail said she no longer worked there, and she gave out a local number for another person. That employee confirmed that the app had been approved 3 months ago, but could not determine what happened next.

    Now in possession of the location where the app was approved, and seemingly lost, I was able to contact the regional office, and a very capable staffer on the Congressional research team there solved my problem in several days.

    In private industry, when you manage a process involving large numbers of routine transactions, you measure, and measure again. If the average approval time is a week, then you run reports to flag transactions taking too long, and escalate them. That did not happen here. SSA appeared satisfied that they were doing nothing for 3 months.

    I am fortunate in that I have time to delve into things like this, since I’m retired. I also have a lot of experience in using the web to investigate and in understanding how government agencies are organized. I’m not the usual SSA “consumer,” so I was able to get my problem solved.The typical citizen lost in this hopeless bureaucracy is quite simply screwed.

  7. Lesly F.

    I am 63 years old and I am disable how I will expect to going well and back to work again

  8. Kat w.

    Social security system is broken and Congress needs to fix it. Stop fraud. Your worker money go to support older workers therefore they will NEVER collect their hard earned money. My 3 sons are in theirs 30’s now.
    If lady had 4 mental illness and physical problem is legitimate then SSA should help her. People in het state should provide caregiver.

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