SSI recipients have had their benefits adjusted for years to allow for assistance from others, such as food, housing etc. No longer. The new rule eliminates food from the calculation which can reduce benefits by up to one-third.
A recently introduced bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would change the way the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is calculated for Social Security recipients. Currently the COLA is determined by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W) from the prior year. CPI-W considers the cost of food, consumer goods, housing, health…
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…
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…
A study conducted by the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) last year found that for Social Security Disability claims the increase in benefit allowance rates was minimal when an attorney assisted in the initial application. However, the rate was significantly greater for SSI claims. The SSAB also found that the waiting time for an initial decision was actually longer for represented Claimant’s.
Attorney Crawforth does not represent Claimants at the initial level. His feeling is that any minimal benefit to a Claimant is offset by the windfall attorney fee he would receive for answering questions the Claimant can answer for him or herself.
< previous PROCESSING TIMES FOR MICHIGAN ODARS | next > CBO REPORTS ON SSI PROGRAM |