Jim Allsup: Establishing A Nationwide Industry
In 1984, Allsup established a new nationwide industry, specializing in representing former U.S. workers who became too ill to work and needed to access their Social Security Disability Insurance. Unlike legal firms at the time who took on SSDI claimants who had been denied benefits and whose life and finances were in dire straits, Jim Allsup utilized his expertise working for SSA to step in early and prevent life-altering SSDI denials for claimants. Allsup helped people with disabilities navigate the SSDI process to avoid denials that wasted precious time during which claimants’ health deteriorated, along with their financial stability. The Allsup process is customer focused, with an eye toward operational efficiency both for the claimant and SSDI.
Always focused on how to improve processes and make claimants feel safe, Jim changed the way SSDI representatives were paid, which resulted in the creation of the SSA-1696-U4 form used today to allow claimants to designate a representative who is bound to comply with SSA published rules of conduct.
Jim became active on Capitol Hill, leveraging his SSDI expertise and commitment to direct the Social Security Administration toward functioning with more efficiency. He believes that efficiency is equivalent to empathy in providing government services and addressing claimants’ needs and requests quickly.
Jim was instrumental in the legislative clarification of the 1993 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which mandated that Medicare become the primary payer for non-working disabled employees. His remarks to the House and the Senate in Washington, D.C., provided critical insight on SSDI and delivered knowledge on multiple pivotal issues of functionality.
Jim recognized the importance of obtaining immediate payment of eligible SSDI benefits, and also factored in the advancement of modern medicine and finding a way, for those who were able, to return to work to foster financial security and freedom in a manner that would have a positive impact on individuals, SSDI solvency, taxpayers, corporate America and the American economy.
Visionary For National Ticket To Work Program
Jim’s pivotal testimony before the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee in hearings the summer of 1995 was a catalyst for the passage of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act in December 1999.
The free TTW Program signed up its first participants in 2002. SSDI claimants are legally entitled to avail themselves of the program, which supports them in transitioning back to work without immediately losing their benefits, so more are empowered to return to work permanently and become self-sustaining without the fear of financial vulnerabilities.
Under Jim’s leadership Allsup LLC, has helped more than 400,000 people with disabilities successfully receive approval for SSDI benefits. Recognizing the hardship of the SSDI claims application process, when people are most vulnerable, Jim created advanced state-of-the-art technology that allows claimants to apply more easily and gauge their likelihood of benefits approval. His approach helps offset SSA’s huge disability workload backlogs. In this way, people can make informed decisions regarding whether to apply or to seek other solutions. Allsup also offers personal support for those tackling the daunting application and appeals process.
Jim continues to advance the SSDI and TTW processes with technological efficiency, organizational know-how and personal service so that his companies address the needs of claimants in a prompt and respectful manner, while acknowledging and contributing to the equation of supporting SSDI solvency, taxpayers and all stakeholders.
