Blog
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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…
21 hours ago -
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
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
SOCIAL SECURITY RAISES REPRESENTATIVE FEE CAP
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 will be raised to $9,200. Future increases will be more regular and tied to the annual cost of living adjustment (COLA).
The Commissioner of the Social Security administration, Martin O’Malley, states the fee increase is necessary to incentivize representation. “Our programs can be complex and quality representation-from initial claims to appeals-helps people navigate the process.”, according to the Commissioner.
Social Security is experiencing growing backlogs. The average wait for an initial decision is 8 months, for a reconsideration, 7 months. The long term goal is to reduce the wait for both to 4 months. Representatives speed up the process by assisting in the gathering of medical evidence.
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