Boosting, not cutting Social Security disability benefits

Apr 07 2015

Every year, the Social Security Administration announces a COLA (cost of living adjustment). Those receiving Social Security disability insurance (SSDI or SSD) are often disappointed. The COLA is typically around a percentage point or so; sometimes it has even been nothing whatsoever.

Some disability advocates say even with the COLAs, the benefits awarded to disabled workers are barely enough to keep people alive; and the benefits are far from the stereotype sometimes portrayed in media of people on SSD living the good life while loafing. The reality is instead that these are disabled workers dealing with significant physical or psychological limitations that prevent them from holding a job. The benefits are needed and welcome, but they are also sparse.

A campaign that includes many Denver residents is spreading across the nation with a name that says it all: Boost Social Security Now. Advocates are tired of the constant threats of benefits cuts for those retired and disabled Americans who have earned the benefits and paid for them with every paycheck earned.

Advocates urge expanding benefits, not cutting them. The first step in the fight is to ensure that additional funding is secured so that today’s level of benefits are maintained well into the foreseeable future. Once those benefits are certain, it will be easier to fight to increase those benefits, so that the retired and disabled can live with dignity rather than as poverty-stricken Americans abandoned by society because they no longer work because of age or disability.

While the fight for boosting Social Security goes on, the fight on an individual basis is often more about getting those needed benefits now. A Denver law firm experienced in leading that fight can help you appeal a denial of benefits, strengthening your argument with needed documentation and testimony, and most of all, a deep knowledge of the law.

Please see our Criteria for Disability Benefits in Colorado page for more information about how the experienced attorneys of the law firm of Alverson + O’Brien can help you.