Massachusetts social security disability
Massachusetts Disability Lawyers: State Cash While You Wait, Repaid Out of Your SSI Back Pay
Massachusetts pays cash assistance to disabled adults waiting on an SSI decision, through a program called EAEDC. Signing up for it assigns part of your future SSI back pay to the state, which Social Security repays out of the retroactive award before you see the rest.
That trade is usually worth making, because rent during the wait is a more urgent problem than the size of a lump sum two years out. What it is not is free, and almost nobody explains the arithmetic at the counter where the form gets signed. Three hearing offices decide Massachusetts claims and all three are in the state.
2
State cash payments per month while an SSI claim is pending
60
Days your condition must be expected to last to qualify on disability grounds
3
Hearing offices deciding Massachusetts claims, all of them in state
$0 upfront
No fee unless you win
Money during the wait
What Massachusetts Pays While a Disability Claim Is Pending
Duration rule
12months
Cash twice a month, plus health coverage. Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children is administered by the Department of Transitional Assistance, and one route into it is being unable to work because of a disability expected to last at least sixty days. It carries MassHealth with it.
The coverage is not a side benefit. A Social Security claim is decided on the evidence in the file, medical evidence above all, and that comes from appointments a person can afford to attend. Months without treatment leave a decision-maker less to read, and Social Security's rules require it to consider why treatment was limited, including affordability. That is easier to show when treatment happened, which is why the health card attached to this program often does more for the file than the cash does.
The sixty-day standard is also worth reading twice, because it is not Social Security's test. Social Security asks whether you can do any substantial work for a period expected to last at least twelve months. The state is asking a shorter question for a different purpose, and qualifying for one says nothing about the other.
What signing the form does
How Massachusetts Is Repaid From Your SSI Back Pay
Out of the retroactive award, before you receive it. The authorization signed at application assigns part of your future SSI to the state, and Social Security pays the state directly for the period it supported you. You then receive the difference between what SSI owed and what the state already paid you.
This is not a debt and it is not a deduction from your monthly benefit. It is a settling of accounts for months that were paid twice, once by the state at the time and once by Social Security afterward. Social Security's description of the arrangement is specific about the window: the reimbursement runs from the first month you are eligible for SSI through the first month your regular monthly payment begins, and if the state cannot stop a final payment already sent, that one can be reimbursed as well.
What it changes is the number in your head. People plan around a retroactive figure they calculated themselves and then find the deposit is smaller, which is the moment this should have been explained rather than discovered. a retroactive figure.
If the numbers look wrong
Disputing a Massachusetts Interim Assistance Reimbursement
Take it to the state, not to Social Security. The authorization form says plainly that you cannot appeal to Social Security if you disagree with a state decision, which surprises people who assume every part of an SSI file is federal.
The state is required to account to you for what it kept, within ten working days of receiving the reimbursement. That accounting is the document to ask for, and it is the one that shows whether the months claimed match the months you were actually paid.
We can tell you how the arrangement works and what the paperwork should show. What we cannot tell you from the outside is whether a particular accounting is right, because the underlying figures sit with a state agency and with Social Security separately. The program this is all built around is SSI.
Where your case is decided
Which Hearing Office Decides Your Massachusetts Disability Claim?
One of three, and all three are in Massachusetts. Boston takes greater Boston, the South Shore, the South Coast and the Cape. Lawrence takes the Merrimack Valley and the North Shore. Springfield takes Worcester and everything west of it.
Massachusetts is self-contained in a way most states in this build are not. No Massachusetts field office is heard outside the state, and Lawrence is the only one of the three that takes work in from a neighbor: Portsmouth, in New Hampshire. The assignment still follows the Social Security field office serving your address rather than the county or the distance, and it is not a preference anybody enters on a form. You can ask Social Security to hear the case at a different office, with the reason in writing, and it decides whether to transfer it.
The three offices
Every Hearing Office That Decides Massachusetts Disability Claims
Hearing offices
3decide this state's claims
Service area lines name Social Security field offices rather than cities or counties, which is how the assignment is actually made.
Three hearing offices decide Massachusetts claims: Boston, Lawrence and Springfield. Lawrence also takes claims filed in New Hampshire.
Every field office assignment and office address is on our hearing office routing page.
Average wait times change from month to month. Social Security publishes the average wait time for each hearing office and updates it monthly, so check the office that takes your claim.
Cities we serve in Massachusetts
Massachusetts Cities We Serve
We represent claimants across Massachusetts, and the hearing office for any address is on the routing page.
Massachusetts SSI Questions: State Cash, Reimbursement and Hearing Offices
Can I get money from the state while my SSI claim is pending in Massachusetts?
You may be able to. Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children is state cash assistance paid twice a month by the Department of Transitional Assistance, and one route to it is being unable to work because of a disability expected to last at least sixty days. It also brings MassHealth coverage with it, which matters as much as the cash for a claim that lives on medical records.
If I take that state money, does it come out of my SSI back pay?
Yes, and this is the part worth understanding before you sign anything. The authorization form assigns part of your retroactive SSI to the state. Social Security pays the state back first for the period it supported you, and you receive the difference between what SSI owed you and what the state already paid. You are not paying twice, but the lump sum is smaller than the raw arithmetic suggests.
What exactly does the reimbursement cover?
The interim period. Social Security's own description is that the reimbursement runs from the first month you are eligible for SSI through the first month your regular monthly SSI payment begins. If the state cannot stop a last payment already issued to you, Social Security can reimburse that one too. It does not reach money the state paid before your SSI eligibility began.
Does this apply if my SSI was stopped and then restarted?
It can. The same authorization covers reinstatement situations, not only new claims, and there the reimbursement runs from the effective date of reinstatement through the first month payments resume. Anyone who received state cash during a suspension should expect the same arrangement to apply to the money that comes back.
Are the eight Florida offices interchangeable, or does mine matter?
The rules are identical and the calendars are not. Every office applies the same federal standard, so no office is a better or worse place for a claim on its merits. Each runs its own queue, and Social Security publishes the current average wait for every one, so the figure worth looking up is the one for the office holding your file.
Does any of this affect an SSDI claim rather than SSI?
The reimbursement arrangement is built around SSI, because that is the program the state assistance bridges. If your claim is for the insured benefit you earned through work, the state cash question is separate and the back pay is not assigned in the same way. Many people file for both at once, which is why the answer matters before the money arrives rather than after.
About to sign for state assistance? Know what it costs the back pay.
Free case review, no obligation. We respond within 3 business hours. Tell us where you filed and we will tell you which office your address routes to. We work from Lebanon, Tennessee, with consultations by phone or video. There is no Massachusetts office and none is implied.