BRATTLEBORO-What happens when you work in social services for 30 years, then retire and start your own social services agency, only to be met by the Trump Administration's attempt to cut Social Security off at the knees?
Just ask Brattleboro's Leo Schiff.
Schiff, 64, a licensed clinical social worker and drug and alcohol counselor, holds a master's degree in social work from the University of Vermont. He worked for the former Morningside Shelter (which became part of Groundworks Collaborative) for five years, then moved to the state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation - now called HireAbility Vermont - for 25 years.
Last year, he retired from running that organization and three months ago started a new business, Schiff Social Services, designed to help people apply for social service benefits.
"Social Security is an earned benefit that every working person pays for," explained Schiff. "It is the government's obligation and duty to give people what they have paid for. I have some skills that I think are useful for the community."
And one of the main ones is helping people with medical and psychological difficulties get on disability Social Security benefits, he said.
"Schiff Social Services is helpful in that the process of seeking earned disability benefits is cumbersome and requires much patience," Schiff said. "I have the patience and enough expertise to make the process go smoother."
Schiff worked closely with people who had medical conditions that made it difficult for them to find and hold jobs.
"Now, [HireAbility] is able to help a good number of people get back to work, and that's great," Schiff said. "That's a good goal. People are more integrated into the society and are often happier when they have a work life. It's not a picnic to be on disability."
But many people have medical conditions that make it much harder to keep a job.
"People have conditions that make them unreliable, because their health is unpredictably worse at certain times in the month," Schiff said. "So people who have chronic pain, people have fibromyalgia, people who have anxiety or bipolar illness, for example, they have a much harder time keeping a job because their medical condition makes them unable to be a reliable employee."
Before the Trump administration started trying to dismantle Social Security, it already took an average of six months for a disability claim to result in benefits, Schiff explained.
"And that's if it was approved on the outset," he said. "People who are approved generally qualify for what is called retroactive benefits from the point at which they applied. Some people get retroactive benefits from the point at which they became unable to make a substantial amount of money."
As an authorized representative, Schiff gets compensated by Social Security up to 25% of that retroactive benefit, he said.
The bureaucratic tango
There are two kinds of disability benefits: SSI, or Special Supplemental Income, and SSDI, or Social Security Disability Income.
If someone is seeking SSI monthly benefits, it is because they are suddenly disabled or 65 or older, with little or no income or resources. They need governmental assistance.
"SSI is an anti-poverty program, and so it is for people who have not had enough of a work history to qualify for the disability insurance," Schiff said. SSDI is a program for workers who have paid into the system for at least five of the past 10 years.
"The criteria for being awarded either of those benefits is a medical condition that has lasted, or is expected to last, 12 months or more and prevents someone from earning substantial gainful income," he said.
According to Schiff, people in Vermont tend to get something like $1,000 a month from SSI.
"Obviously, it's not enough to live on unless you have a housing subsidy, but it's something," Schiff said. "You don't necessarily have to be on the street."
Ideally, the system would give people help when they need it and when they're asking for it. But the system is complicated.
For example, both SSI and SSDI have work rules.
"On SSDI, you're able to earn up to $1,620 a month and keep your benefit," Schiff said. "You can work part-time and still have that benefit."
But if you're on SSI and you make $1,000 a month, "your SSI is going to go down by, like, $450," he continued. "It's more punitive, because it's an anti-poverty program, and we as a country are not particularly generous to people who are impoverished."
If someone feels they could do a successful job of attaining benefits on their own, they should definitely do it, Schiff said. But if they do not feel up to it, Schiff will help them work the system.
Schiff gets referrals from his old agency, therapists, Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA), and other social service agencies in the area.
"They shouldn't pay me to do something that they can do on their own," Schiff said. "But 80% of initial claims get denied. And one of the reasons that they get denied is that there's not adequate communication between the people who need the benefit and their medical providers and Social Security."
That's because "medical people are busy, and people who are in medical offices are stressed. And it's important for people to really clearly explain their impairments to their medical provider. And it's important for their medical provider to take the time to understand and potentially agree with their patient and to communicate that clearly enough to Social Security," he said.
"One of the reasons for my business is to help enhance that communication so people can be successful at the outset," Schiff said.
If a claim is denied, an applicant can ask for a reconsideration.
"The Disability Determination [Services] unit will take a second look, and maybe they get additional medical records that allow them to change their decision," Schiff said. "And if not, people have an appeal right to an administrative law judge. But that tends to take an additional year. So people apply for disability, and it takes 18 months for them to see a judge, and most cases get approved at the administrative law judge level."
Meanwhile, "people have had this long period of no income, and the process of waiting so long for disability is disabling," he said.
Playing DOGE ball
When the Trump administration, through Trump donor Elon Musk's unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), began instituting massive staff cuts and closing offices in the Social Security Administration, things changed.
"[DOGE] will have a severely negative impact on the efficiency of the Social Security Administration," Schiff said. "The local and regional offices have been understaffed for years, and the backlog will get substantially worse."
In a recent letter to The Commons, Schiff defended the staff of Vermont's Social Security Administration office in Rutland.
"As a social worker, I have been regularly interacting with the Rutland Social Security office, which covers southern Vermont, for the past 30 years," Schiff wrote. "I have gotten excellent, compassionate, and timely support for my clients from those workers.
"In addition, there is seldom a wait time on the phone of more than five to 10 minutes. For a bureaucracy of this size, the service is extraordinary. We need these public servants now more than ever."
Schiff pointed out it would behoove the Trump administration to keep its hands off Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
"Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare have a lot of supporters, and so it will be harder to cut those," Schiff said. "And it will certainly be harder for Republicans to get re-elected if they cut those. [...] These social service programs prevent unrest. So it's not in the oligarchy's advantage to overly tamper with that part of the safety net. I hope I'm right."
When he is not helping people deal with the Social Security system, Schiff is deeply involved in community activities. He is on the board of trustees of the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust and served as president of the board of trustees of Brooks Memorial Library for three years; he remains on the board.
Aside from helping people get on SSI or SSID, Schiff is mentoring master's degree students.
"I am able to do clinical supervision for new professionals who are either in grad school or post-grad school seeking licensure," Schiff said. "That's a fun thing for me to do, because I like supporting people, and I like giving back to the profession."
This News item by Joyce Marcel was written for The Commons.