YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY
By DAVID BROWN

Each year, people from across the nation spend Thanksgiving Day enjoying good food and quality time with their families. Following this year's holiday we hope you will consider assisting a loved one by visiting www.socialsecurity.gov.

Mr. Brown is District Manager of the Social Security Administration's Downtown New York Office.

The Social Security Administration has a cornucopia of services, many of which are on-line. You can visit us at www.socialsecurity.gov/onlineservices from the privacy of your home or office. Using the agency's Web site is convenient, easy and secure.

Here are a few of the things you can help your loved ones do online.

Apply for benefits. You can help them apply for Social Security retirement, spouse's or disability benefits. After they have applied, they can check back on-line for the status of the application as well.

See if they qualify for Social Security. You can use our on-line Benefit Eligibility Screening Tool (BEST) to see which kind of benefits they might be eligible for. Just answer a series of questions and find out whether they're eligible for retirement, disability or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. You can even find out whether they might be eligible for Medicare. All of this can be done by completing one simple questionnaire, and it only takes five to 10 minutes.

Change Your Address or Phone Number. If you currently receive Social Security benefits, it's important that you keep us updated about changes to your mailing address and phone number in case we need to contact you - even if you have direct deposit. The most convenient way to update your information is by using our on-line services. You can change your address, phone number, even your direct deposit information.

Apply for Extra Help with Your Medicare Prescription Drug Costs. Social Security has an easy-to-use on-line application that anyone - family members, friends and caregivers - can complete. If a loved one has limited income and resources, they may qualify for extra help paying the premiums, deductibles and co-payments. This extra help - available through Social Security - can pay part of the monthly premiums, annual deductibles and prescription co-payments, and could be worth more than $3,600 per year.

These are just a few of the many services now available on-line from Social Security. So now that the dishes are put away, pass the laptop and visit Social Security at www.socialsecurity.gov/onlineservices.