Recently, the SSA announced that the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2023 is 8.7% – the highest increase in payments in decades. This boost in monthly benefits will begin in January 2023. This is the highest the COLA has ever been since 1981, which saw an increase in benefits by 11.2%. For the approximately 70 million…
When you accumulate too much debt and can no longer pay your bills, you may file for bankruptcy to help repay your creditors. This could impact your financial standing in many ways, but fortunately, Social Security benefits are not affected by default by federal law. Social Security Disability benefits are considered exempt assets, meaning creditors…
As the pandemic’s impact lessens, more Americans are following through on their travel plans. Unfortunately, with the increased volume of travelers, complaints follow suit, with consumer complaints against airlines up nearly 300% more over pre-pandemic levels. To mitigate this, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently announced actions to help ensure a…
Social Security Disability beneficiaries will likely be seeing an increase in their payments next year which may be the largest in decades. This is due to growing inflation and the continuously climbing cost-of-living in the United States, which informs the automatic cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. The COLA is based on how any increase in the…
When you’ve become recently disabled, applying for Social Security Disability (SSD) is a step in the right direction toward getting back on track. Unfortunately, the process of applying alone through the Social Security Administration (SSA) can be overwhelming, discouraging, and confusing. In fact, around 70% of initial SSD applications are denied, regardless of their validity. …
When applying for Social Security Disability (SSD), you must quickly familiarize yourself with a handful of new words, phrases, and concepts as you navigate the claims process. One of these to keep in mind is the Social Security Administration’s Compassionate Allowance Program, which speeds up the claims process for qualifying applicants. Currently, the Compassionate Allowance…
After SSA field offices were forced to close for nearly two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are plans to reopen offices for in-person consultations as soon as possible. The federal agency has reached an agreement with its labor unions to bring 45,000 SSA employees back to its field offices in April. This follows…
When applying for disability benefits, or finally beginning to collect following approval or a successful appeal, curiosity may build about the conditions of your monthly payments. For example, a question we are commonly asked is if disability benefits continue forever once approved. Typically, as long as you are disabled, you will receive SSD benefits until…
When faced with a denied disability claim, you have the right to appeal the decision in a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (or ALJ). However, there are essential steps of the decision-making process to consider before and after the date of your hearing, all with different statuses. Keeping track of these statuses alone can…
In certain situations, applicants may qualify for both SSDI (Social Security Disability) and SSI (Supplemental Security Income) benefits, and the Social Security Administration (SSA) will consider it as “concurrent benefits.” Two significant similarities that these benefits both share are they have the same standards for disability, and the SSA both administers them. However, being eligible…
I will never forget you and the hard work you did to secure my Social Security Disability benefits. Thank you!
