Unless Congress acts decisively by mid-2016, the Social Security Administration will only be able to pay about 80 percent of the disability benefits that recipients are entitled to under the law. Why would Congress reduce Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits for millions of Americans? The answer has to do with the way the system is funded. For now, if you need to apply for Social Security disability benefits in southern California, or if you’ve been denied benefits and you need to appeal that denial, arrange to speak at once with an experienced Los Angeles Social Security disability attorney.
The Social Security Act provides for three categories of benefits: retirement, survivors, and disability. Funding for each benefit category is separately maintained. FICA contributions from employers and employees are distributed – according to a formula determined by Congress – to the three separate trust funds. There’s now a shortfall in the disability fund, and there’s currently no legal way to shift resources from the other two funds. It will literally take an act of Congress. Why is there a shortfall in the Social Security disability fund? As the nation’s population has aged, more people are now disabled and unable to work. Although that demographic reality might have been foreseen, Congress still has a year to act to replenish the Social Security disability fund.
If you are disabled in the Los Angeles area or elsewhere in southern California, working with a good disability lawyer dramatically increases the likelihood that you will be awarded Social Security disability benefits. If you are applying to receive disability benefits, if you’ve been denied benefits you deserve, or even if you simply need more information about disability benefits, the wise course of action is to speak as quickly as possible to an experienced Los Angeles Social Security disability attorney.