Blog
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It looks like the new Social Security Commissioner, Martin O’Malley, is really taking charge. A number of changes have been implemented in the several weeks Commissioner O’Malley has been on the job. Among the most meaningful is decreasing the default overpayment withholding rate to 10% (or $10, whichever is greater) from 100%. This will significantly…
2+ weeks ago -
Social Security uses what is called the “fee agreement process” to pay representatives who help Claimants. For those signing an appropriate fee agreement Social Security will approve the agreement and pay the representative up to 25% of a retroactive fee. Since November 2022 that retroactive fee could not exceed $7,200. Sometime this fall the cap…
3+ weeks ago
News
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Summer 2021 Newsletter STILL STANDING…AND PRACTICING I published the first issue of Social Security & You in Spring of 1993. Some years I’ve published more issues than others. The most recent issue was dated Spring 2019: over 2 years ago. The world was a much different place then. Especially for me. Read the full newsletter…
2+ years ago -
Spring 2019 Newsletter An Opioid Story I’ve changed his name. Let’s call him Gerald. He was a laborer. And by that I don’t mean that he just did physical work. He was a card-carrying member the Labor’s Union local. And that meant a lot to him. I represented him for Social Security disability and Michigan…
4+ years ago
2013 SOCIAL SECURITY TRUSTEES REPORT
This year’s report of the Social Security Trustees was released on May 31, 2013. The Social Security Administration is comprised of 2 trust funds. The Old-Age and Survivors (OASI) Trust Fund covers retirement benefits. The Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund finances disability and ancillary benefits. The Funds have differing reserves.
Under current projections, the DI Trust Fund will be depleted in 2016. At that point benefits would be reduced 20%. The OASI Trust Fund will become insolvent in 2033.
The report stresses that the shortfall is occurring because of 3 factors. The first is demographic. The number of beneficiaries are growing as the number of tax paying workers is declining. Baby- boomers are aging and we haven’t reproduced, nor are our children reproducing, at the rates of our parents.
The second is that real per-capita payments are rising under current benefits formulas. There is a movement afoot to change the formula by which benefits and Cost Of Living Adjustments are calculated.
And the third is that program is financed on a pay-as-you-go basis, meaning benefits are paid mostly by contributions from the succeeding generation.
This is not the first time a shortfall crisis has arisen. In 1983 several measures were taken to address the crisis. Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) payments were delayed 6 months, benefits were exposed to taxation for the first time, newly hired federal employees were brought into the system, the retirement age was raised and a previously enacted increase in the payroll tax was accelerated. The fix this time will require similar pain and creativity.
Call today if you have questions about the Michigan Social Security Disability Attorney and Lawyer Services provided by William Crawforth.
To schedule an appointment call 800-864-1244 or fill out the contact form at the top of this page.
