Tucson Social Security Disability Blog

Obama’s Budget Proposals To Deal With Looming Cuts To Disability Benefits

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The President is trying to figure out a way to avoid a 20% cut for disability beneficiaries. As noted in my earlier posts on this subject, that is what is going to happen as soon as next year unless something changes.
President Obama’s proposals are measured and reasonable. Which means, of course, they have no chance to become law.  But here is what he is suggesting:

• Reallocate some of the FICA money employees pay from retirement to disability. Obama is not suggesting an overall increase in the rate. Rather, he wants to move some it from retirement to disability.

• Try to keep more people working. This would involve providing incentives to employers to accommodate worker’s limitations.

• Hire more administrative law judges and streamlining the appeals process. The backlog of people waiting for hearings on their disability claims has passed one million. This is not going to get better until more judges are hearing more cases.

• Provide greater funding for continuing disability reviews (CDR’s). It is logical that the more people SSA examine to determine if they are disabled, the more people will leave the program. Right now, it is very rare for SSA to terminate anyone’s disability benefits. If people have gotten better and should be working, let’s help guide those people in the right direction.

• Offset any other government benefits from monthly disability payments. President Obama would like to reduce, dollar for dollar, disability benefits by such things as unemployment benefits. This could prove to be controversial. But, it is worth at least considering.

I assume that Congress will wait until the very last minute before dealing with these pending cuts for disability benefits.  Let’s hope that they when finally get around to taking it up, at least some of the President’s proposals are part of the solution. 

Obama Juggles the Numbers to Save Social Security Disability Benefits

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About The Author

Since 1992, I have been helping the people of Southern Arizona get the benefits they are due. Before devoting all my efforts to assisting people with Social Security disability claims, I also handled such complex lawsuits as medical malpractice and products liability. I brought to my Social Security cases all the skills and attention to detail that I developed in the courtroom. I approach each Social Security disability case as if it were a million-dollar lawsuit. For the people trying to get Social Security benefits, their claim is every bit as important. Because I have personally handled so many Social Security cases, I have refined the skills I need to win your case for you. I have helped people win cases for every kind of ailment from arthritis to valley fever. At present, I am focused on helping those persons with neurological and orthopedic disorders. Because claims for people over age fifty bring additional complications, I particularly seek out those cases to work on. I regularly write about back and spine conditions on my blog. I actively seek out the latest information about orthopedic and neurological disorders to ensure I can represent my clients as effectively as possible. Because of my current focus, I regret that I am not able to take any cases for mental disorders. If you are over age fifty and suffer from any orthopedic or neurological disorder, please contact me at once.